Through a Child's Eyes
by A Scary Man
Summary: COMPLETE: The story of four young mutants who grow up together as outcasts from society (set between X-Men and X2, using original characters). Please review.
1. Prologue part I

A/N: the first two chapters will take the form of a prologue, introducing the four main characters. The main storyline will begin in chapter three.

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THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

Prologue:

JUNE 1993

Jacqueline Cartier, 7 years old, didn't yet know that she was a mutant. Born in Marseilles, her family had moved to Edinburgh when she was six, and so far she had enjoyed an ordinary childhood, the only daughter of parents who had no idea of the special powers their offspring possessed. It was on this day, while on her way to school, when Jacqueline would first make use of her latent ability.

"Jackie!" came a voice from behind her.

The little girl looked round and saw two of her school friends hurrying to catch up with her. She smiled and greeted them, speaking with a strong French lilt; her English was still not fluent. The other two girls fell into step beside her and they began walking together in the direction of their school. Jacqueline and her friends stopped to pet a small kitten that was playing on the pavement.

"I love kittens," one of the other girls said. "My auntie got one for her birthday."

Jacqueline frowned, trying to understand the words that lay underneath her friend's strong Edinburgh accent.

"Come on, we'll be late for school," her other friend said, pointing at her watch.

"_Oui, d'accord_. _Je viens._"

The other girls looked at each other. They were trying to learn some French words to make it easier to communicate with Jacqueline, but still couldn't understand most of what she said.

The little girls left the kitten to its play, and continued on their way to school. They had walked a few yards, when some impulse made Jacqueline glance behind her. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. The kitten, chasing after a butterfly, had run into the middle of the road, and was now directly in the path of an oncoming bus. The driver hadn't seen the tiny cat, and the bus was not going to stop in time.

"_Non! Arrêtez!" _she screamed, holding out her hand as if she could hold back the speeding vehicle.

In her mind she saw the bus stopping. Without knowing what she was doing, Jacqueline telepathically enforced her will on the vehicle, stopping it dead a metre or so in front of the kitten. The cat fled back on to the pavement and disappeared over a wall. Jacqueline relaxed her mind. The bus continued moving as if nothing had happened, then braked to a halt. The driver threw open the door and jumped out on the ground, looking bewildered, trying to see what had temporarily stopped his vehicle from moving.

"Jackie! What did you _do_?"

Jacqueline turned to see her friends staring at her with open mouths.

"_Quoi_?" she asked.

"The bus – you stopped the bus – how did you do that?"

The little French girl shook her head helplessly, "_Je ne comprends pas._"

"You must be telepathic – you must be a mutant!"

"_Pardon_?"

The other girls tried to think of the few French words they knew. One of them said uncertainly, "_Tu es un _– um – _mutant?_"

"_Une mutante?_"

"Uh – _oui_."

"_Non. Ce n'est pas possible! Je suis normale!_"

She broke down into tears as she realised what had just happened. By using telepathy to momentarily stop the bus, she had to be a mutant. She looked up to see her friends backing away from her, looking terrified.

"_Non! N'allez pas! Vous êtes mes amies!_" she cried.

"You're a mutant. My daddy said that mutants were bad. He said they kill people!"

Jacqueline didn't understand, but she could see the fear in her friends' eyes. Without another word the two Scottish girls turned and ran as fast as they could away from her. At that moment, Jacqueline Cartier knew without doubt that she was a mutant and an outcast from society.

FEBRUARY 1999

Two teenagers lay beside one another at the summit of the hill, overlooking the city of Edinburgh. Neil Rosiçky was 12 years old and had lived in Edinburgh all his life. Claire Stewart was the same age and they had been going out for almost three months.

"Neil, you can take your sun-glasses off, by the way. The sun isn't even out," said Claire.

"I know. I still have to wear them."

"Why? I've _never_ seen you take them off!"

"I know. Light…hurts my eyes. I can only take them off at night."

She frowned, "It's so weird…I don't even know what colour eyes you have! I've never seen them."

"They're blue."

"Can I see them?"

"Why?"

"I dunno…I read somewhere that you can't trust a person if you can't see their eyes."

"So you don't trust me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" she said quickly. "It's just weird. Why do your eyes get hurt so badly by light?"

"I dunno. They're just sensitive."

"Have you seen the doctor about it?"

"Nah. There's nothing wrong with me; I just have sensitive eyes."

She sighed and rolled over on to her front, "It's too weird. How long have you had this problem?"

"A few years. Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. Sorry."

He lay back, resting his head on his hands, and looked up at the sky through his sun-glasses.

"Hey," she said.

"What?"

"There's a big merchant ship coming into the docks. I wonder if it's the _Oculus. _That's the one my brother's on."

"Oculus?" he repeated. "What's that mean?"

"Dunno. It's the name of the ship. I don't think it means anything."

"It's a cool name. I like it."

"My brother said he was coming home for the summer. I hope that's his ship."

Neil sat up and looked where she was pointing. Straining his eyes, he focused on the name that was borne on the side of the vessel.

"It's the _Oculus_," he said.

"What? How do you know?"

"It says so on the side."

"Don't be stupid; you can't possibly read it from up here! It must be at least five miles away!"

"I'm not making it up! That's what it says on the side of the ship."

"Oh, don't be silly. I can only just make out the ship from up here."

"Fine then, if you don't believe me. Hey, there's an observation platform up there with a telescope. Take a look for yourself."

They got up, and he followed Claire to the small telescope at the top of the hill that gave an all-encompassing view of the city.

"All right, here we go," she said. "You _are_ just being silly, you know that?"

He didn't say anything, and she pointed the telescope at the ship, then adjusted the zoom.

"Hey, it _is _the _Oculus_," she said in a surprised tone.

"I told you I could see the name."

"No way. That was a lucky guess. You can't possibly make out its name from five miles away!"

"I can and I did."

"No you didn't. I'll prove it," she said, putting her eye back to the eyepiece of the telescope. "How many people are standing on deck?"

He squinted over the distance and replied. "Two – no, three. A guy in a red shirt, a guy wearing overalls, and a woman in a suit."

"Hey, you're right," she gasped. "You really _can_ see it from here."

"I wasn't lying, Claire."

"But how – how can you – ?"

"I dunno. I've always had good eyes."

"I still want you to take your sun-glasses off so I can see your eyes."

He shook his head, "I can't. The sun hurts my eyes too much."

"Neil, do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Then do it."

He sighed, "All right. But not for long. If I can't stand the pain, I'm putting them back on."

She reached up and removed the sun-glasses from his eyes. Immediately he was pummelled by an agonising burst of pain. The sunlight mercilessly burned into his eyes, and he cried, "It's too much! I need them back!"

Grabbing his sun-glasses from her hands, he put them back on and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, that's better."

Then he noticed Claire. She was staring at him with a horrified expression.

"What?" he said. "I told you it hurts. Maybe you think I'm weak or something, but – "

"You're a mutant," she said.

"Huh?"

"You're a mutant!" she screamed. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been going out with you for months, thinking you were normal!"

"I am normal! I'm not a mutant! What are you talking about?"

"Your eyes – don't you ever look at yourself in the mirror?"

"Yeah, of course."

"With your sun-glasses off?"

"No. It's too painful."

She reached into her shoulder bag and handed him her little makeup mirror, "Take a look at yourself. Right now."

He took off his sun-glasses, screwing up his eyes against the glare of the sun, ignoring the pain, and looked into the mirror. Instantly he saw what she meant. He hadn't seen his own eyes for years, and at some point they must have changed. His irises were the same light blue colour they'd always been, but the pupils…instead of being black, as they should have been, they were bright gold.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

She snatched the mirror back and snapped, "You're a mutant! I hate you!"

"What? Why?"

"Don't talk to me, freak! Leave me alone!"

She turned and ran away from him, down the path that led towards the bottom of the hill. He wanted to run after her, but was still stunned by what she had said. Slipping his sun-glasses back on, he sat down numbly on the grass and stared at the city below. With a sickening feeling he realised now the reason for his exceptional long-range eyesight: his eyes were a mutant's eyes. He lay on his back as the full implications of this revelation set in. He was a mutant. Mutants were hated and reviled by the general public. Neil Rosiçky shut his eyes against the world as if he could block it all out, and contemplated life as a mutant.


	2. Prologue part II

Prologue (continued):

DECEMBER 1994

"Merry Christmas!"

6-year-old Chloe Scott excitedly took the parcel that her mother held out to her. Without waiting to admire the shiny wrapping paper, she tore it open and tipped the contents on to the floor.

"What's this? A doggie collar? We don't have a doggie!"

"We do now. We wanted to save this until last, Chloe."

The small girl heard the door opening and looked over to see her father entering, carrying a small Labrador puppy in his arms. Chloe gave a squeal of delight. She loved animals, she'd always loved them, and she'd wanted a pet for Christmas more than anything.

"Can I see, can I see?" she cried, holding out her arms.

"Be gentle with him, he's still a bit scared."

Chloe took the little dog from her father and hugged it close to her. The puppy sniffed at her hair and wagged its tail.

"Nice doggie," she said. "Can I call him Ben?"

"Why Ben?"

"It's his name. He likes it."

Her mother looked a little confused at this statement, but put it out of her mind. Her daughter was happy with the dog and that was all that mattered. Mrs Scott smiled and said, "Sure, Chloe, you can call it whatever you want."

"He's Ben."

Forgetting about the other presents she had just opened, little Chloe centred her attention fully on her new pet. She put the puppy down on the floor and watched as it yawned and stretched, then sat down on its hind legs to examine its new surroundings.

"My name's Chloe," she said, as the dog cocked one ear to listen. "Do you want to play a game?"

The dog stood up on all fours and began wagging its tail eagerly.

"Come on, we'll go outside. Mummy? Me and Ben are going outside."

"OK, sweetie. Stay in the garden, don't go into the street."

"OK. Thanks, Mum. Wait in the hall for me, Ben. I'll be down in a minute."

Chloe ran upstairs to put on her outdoor clothes, coming back down to find the dog obediently waiting for her in the front hall. She pulled open the door and, with a bark of excitement, the puppy led the way outside.

Inside the house, Chloe's parents watched their daughter playing with her new pet. It was uncanny really, the way the puppy had taken to her. Normally it would take a lot longer before a young animal became completely happy in its new environment. They watched as she threw sticks for the dog to chase, as she raced up and down the garden with the puppy at her heels, as she stroked its fur then tickled its tummy while it lay on its back.

Eventually Mrs Scott went outside to call Chloe in for dinner. They ate a traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and stuffing with roast potatoes and vegetables, followed by a Christmas pudding with custard. When they had finished their meal, and there was still plenty of turkey meat left over, Chloe's mother suggested that the puppy might like some.

"He doesn't like turkey," Chloe said, shaking her head. "He likes chicken. Ben, do you want some chicken?"

The puppy, who had been curled up in his basket, sat up with his tongue out and wagged his tail. Mrs Scott looked dubiously at her daughter, but nevertheless when turkey was placed in front of the puppy, it turned up its nose and refused to eat. On Chloe's insistence, her mother went to fetch some scraps of chicken from the kitchen, and gave them to the dog. It devoured them hungrily, then settled down in its basket for a nap.

"Chloe?" said her father. "How did you know what the puppy likes to eat?"

"He told me," said the child innocently.

"What do you mean, he told you?"

"I asked him what he liked, and he told me."

Mr Scott smiled, "Chloe, darling, dogs can't talk to people."

Chloe shook her head earnestly, "I can talk to Ben, and he talks back."

"Don't be silly, Chloe!"

The little girl looked over at the somnolent puppy, and called, "Ben?"

Instantly the puppy awoke and looked at her.

"What's my name?" she asked.

The dog barked, then licked its lips and wagged its tail.

"See? He said my name was Chloe," the girl told her father.

"I didn't hear him say anything," her mother said. "Chloe, you're playing one of your little games, aren't you?"

"I'm not!" the six-year-old lost her temper. "I'm not lying! Ben talks to me! Ben? Come and sit on my knee."

Without a moment's hesitation, the puppy rose from its slumber, padded over to the table, and jumped on to Chloe's knee. Her parents exchanged glances.

"Chloe, why don't you take Ben into the front room and play with him?"

"OK. Let's go, Ben!"

The two adults waited until the girl and the puppy had left the room, then faced each other once more.

"Do you realise what this means?" Mr Scott was the first to break the silence.

"That she can talk to animals?"

"No – that she's a mutant. As you know, I used to study zoology. No human being can communicate with an animal like that. It's unnatural."

"Our daughter is not unnatural! She – she's – "

"I know. I don't want to believe it either. But we can't hide from the truth."

"I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. Chloe, a mutant – "

"You still love her, don't you?"

"Of course I do! She can't help being what she is! She won't even understand what it means, not at her age."

"It means we'll need to protect her. There are plenty of people in the world who fear mutants. We mustn't let this stop Chloe from leading anything other than a normal life."

His wife nodded, and the two of them, though they didn't wish to believe it was true, knew that their child was a mutant. When she was old enough, they'd explain it to her, but for now they would do all that they could to protect her from a cruel world where she and her kind were not welcome.

JANUARY 2001

Chris Garcia had spent all of his 14 years living on the back streets of Leith, in one of the worst areas of Edinburgh. He had dropped out of school at the age of twelve, but re-enrolled a year later on the advice of his uncle. Living in poverty since the day he was born, he had learned to steal at an early age, and had joined together with a group of friends his own age to form a gang of sorts. Today was just another ordinary day for him: stealing food from the shops, being spotted by the shopkeeper, then having to outrun the police on his way home.

"They're right behind us!" he cried to his friends. "Move faster!"

He was the first to reach the gate that led to the river. The gate had been locked for years, for safety reasons, and was now rusted shut, but the fence was only wooden and easy to climb over. The four youths scaled the fence, jumping down to land on the riverbank on the other side. They turned and saw, with dismay, that the two police officers were climbing over the fence in pursuit. Chris swore. Normally the pigs, as he called them, would stop at the fence.

"Come on! Keep going!" he urged the others.

Hurrying down the riverbank to an area where they knew the water was shallow, the boys splashed across the river and pelted up the bank on the other side. Glancing over his shoulder, Chris saw the two pigs were still in pursuit. He and his friends continued running along the bank, towards the spot where they knew they'd lose the police: a small gap in the chain link fence that led to the main road, too small for an adult to crawl through, but easy for a child. He'd used this escape route many times. By the time the pigs had found an alternative way round the fence, he and his friends would have vanished into the warren of dark streets that led back to their homes.

"Come on, hurry! They're nearly across!" he yelled at the first of his friends who was wriggling underneath the fence.

The boy got through, and the second followed him. Chris watched the pigs struggling in a deeper area of the river, but climbing up on to the bank nonetheless, and running towards him. The third boy was now through the gap in the fence, and Chris got down on to his front to crawl through the gap. He knew he'd been growing a lot recently, and some day he'd be too big to use this route. Hopefully today wouldn't be that day. His hands clawing at the tarmac on the other side, he pulled himself through the gap.

Damn! He was stuck! Looking back, he saw that his feet couldn't fit through the hole. His feet had been growing steadily larger over the last few months, and he'd had to steal a new pair of shoes since his old pair hadn't fit him any more.

"Come on, Chris! They're nearly on you!" one of his friends yelled.

With an almighty effort, Chris tried to tug himself through the hole. One of his friends took hold of his arms to give him extra pulling power. It was to no avail. He simply couldn't fit his feet through the gap. Desperation overtook him and he began to panic. He couldn't let the police catch him. If they found out who he was, he'd be chucked out of school and sent to a juvenile detention centre. His cousin had spent time in one, and told him what it was like. He couldn't let himself be caught. He strained with every last muscle, trying to pull himself through. The pigs were only yards away now. His mind screamed at his body, _move! Get through the hole!_

Suddenly, without warning, his body responded. Using powers he didn't know he had, Chris watched with wide-open eyes and a gaping jaw as his feet began to liquefy. This was impossible! What the hell was going on? He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but had the presence of mind to pull his dissolving feet through the gap before either of the policemen could grab him. He was safe at last. He relaxed, and his feet began to solidify once more.

"What the _hell_ happened there?" one of his friends gasped.

The policemen had hurried away to find another way round the fence, and the four boys knew they'd have to be gone by the time the pigs got there. Chris got to his feet gingerly, testing them to make sure they still worked, then the four of them hurried down the nearest alleyway. They stopped, and Chris looked at his friend and shrugged, "I dunno. It's never happened before."

The smallest of the boys, speaking with an Irish accent, said, "That was a mutation, so it was."

"What? You mean he's a mutant?"

"Must be. No other explanation."

Chris shook his head, "Nah! Don't be stupid! Mutations are – "

"Are what?"

"I was going to say they're one of those things that happen to other people. But to everyone else, I _am_ 'other people'."

"Whatever. You're a mutant."

"You already said," Chris retorted. "What are you going to do now? Run away? Scared because I'm a mutant?"

The other boys exchanged glances, then the Irish boy shrugged, "We don't care. Society hates mutants, but society hates us poor kids too. If society hates them, I reckon they're all right."

Chris grinned, "You know what, you guys? You're all right too. The world hates all of us, so we'd damn well better make sure we stick together."

"Right. People can't help who they're born to be."

"That's it exactly," Chris nodded. "Anyway, we'd better get home. My mum'll be wanting the food I nicked."

The four boys left the alley, and headed in the direction of their homes. Inwardly, Chris smiled. He'd seen and experienced a lot of trouble and suffering during his short life, and now he tended to take everything more or less in his stride. Discovering he was a mutant might have come as a shock to most people, but he accepted it as his lot, and gave it no more thought. If that was the way it was going to be, that was the way it was going to be. There was nothing he could do about it. He was glad his friends weren't bigoted mutant-haters like the so-called 'higher' echelons of society. A grin spread across his face as he realised that being a mutant might not be such a bad thing after all. He still didn't know how he'd done what he'd done back there, but if he could do it again…hey, it might get him out of a lot of tight spots. Chris Garcia smiled to himself and thanked whatever twist of fate had bestowed this gift upon him.


	3. Mutant Registration Act

A/N: OK the main story starts here. From now on the story will be in 1st person, narrated by Neil Rosiçky.

MAY 2003

Chapter One: Mutant Registration Act

If I'd known, that morning, that today would be the one day that defined the course of the rest of my life, what might I have done? Run away and hidden from fate? Done nothing, and accepted it? Fought against it, and tried to change the way things might have gone?

It had been an ordinary school day, just as dull and mundane as any other. The sky was overcast and it had been raining on and off all morning; typical Scottish weather. My alarm clock had failed to go off, and I'd had to skip breakfast in order to get to school on time. I'd endured the usual taunts from the mutant-hating contingent of my class. I'd gone to the school cafeteria and eaten alone as usual. After lunch I'd entered my maths classroom and settled down in my chair for another hour of the teacher droning on in his usual vacant way about co-efficients, divisors, factorials and differentials. My head resting on one hand, I was half-asleep when the message that would change my life came over on the school tannoy system.

"Would the following pupils please report to the Headmaster's office: Jacqueline Cartier, Christopher Garcia, Neil Rosiçky – "

I looked up and my eyes opened at the mention of my own name.

" – and Chloe Scott."

I glanced up at the teacher. He nodded to me, indicating that I could go. Stuffing my books inside my schoolbag, I stood up and headed for the door. Two or three people in the front row tried to trip me up as I passed, but I managed to avoid them.

"Freak!" my ex-girlfriend Claire Stewart hissed at me, her face twisted into a mask of hatred.

"Neil?" the teacher said. "If you don't get back before class is finished, the homework for Tuesday is to do questions 6 to 12 from the chapter in the textbook."

"OK."

I left the room, closing the door behind me, and walked in the direction of the Headmaster's office. Idly I wondered why I was being summoned there. I thought I recognised the other names who'd been called. I knew who Jacqueline Cartier was: the most unpopular girl in the school, which was quite surprising considering she was rather attractive. A year older than me, she wasn't in any of my classes and I'd never really spoken to her.

Chris Garcia, well, everybody knew who _he_ was. Probably nobody else in the history of the school had been given quite so many punishments or detentions. It was just as well the cane had been done away with, or he'd probably have been dead by now. I knew him a little bit; he was in my physics class. He was one of the few people who didn't care that I was a mutant, though to be honest, we hardly ever spoke.

Chloe Scott was a name I knew but a person I'd never met. She'd brought herself to everyone's attention with her attempts to enforce a vegetarian only policy in the school cafeteria. Apparently she was a staunch animal-lover, and opposed any product or attitude that involved the suffering of animals. Other than that, I knew nothing about her. She was only 15, a year younger than I was, and I didn't really know anyone from the lower years.

I reached the top of the staircase, turned left, and found myself at the Headmaster's office. The three people I'd just been thinking about were standing outside. Jacqueline, looking calm and emotionless, leaned easily against the wall, and turned her head to nod in my direction. Chris, slouched down in one of the easy chairs outside the Head's office, sighed loudly and looked bored and indifferent about the whole affair. Chloe stood off to one side, looking nervous, endlessly clasping and unclasping her hands. It was the first time I'd ever seen her, and I thought she was cute, in a little girl kind of way.

"Hey," I greeted them. "Any idea what this is about?"

"Could be anything," Chris replied before either of the girls could say a word. "I get called up here every fifteen minutes, so who knows."

Jacqueline shrugged. Chloe looked at the floor and a blush came to her cheeks, "I haven't done anything wrong. I've never been sent to the Head's office before, ever."

"Little goody-goody, are you?" Chris drawled lazily.

Chloe knew all about Chris' reputation, and nervously turned away from him. I sat down on one of the chairs, leaving two between myself and the other boy.

"Don't you ever talk?" Chris was saying to Jacqueline. "You haven't said a word since we got up here."

She gave him a disinterested glance, then turned to look down the corridor to her right.

"Huh. Don't _any_ of you talk?" Chris demanded, turning to face me. "What's with the shades, anyway?"

I reached up to push my sun-glasses back up on to the bridge of my nose, "They protect my eyes."

"You need them indoors, do you?"

"Everywhere I go."

"Huh. Whatever. Honestly, you lot are so – "

He was interrupted by the door opening behind him, and the Headmaster sticking his head out into the corridor.

"Right, you'll all here. Come in," he said.

Chris remained in his seat, making it clear to the Head that he would get up and enter the office in his own good time. Chloe was far too scared to be the first to go in, and Jacqueline didn't appear to be paying any attention, so I stood up and walked into the Head's office. Chloe followed my lead; I could see that the poor girl was trembling with fear. After her came Jacqueline, and finally Chris lifted himself from his chair to saunter in behind us. We stood in a line in front of the Headmaster's desk, and he went to sit behind it.

"Now," he said, looking up at us. "I don't know whether or not you realise why you have been called here, but two things have just been brought to my attention."

Chris had his arms folded and was looking out of the window, refusing to pay attention.

"First of all," said the Head. "There was an emergency meeting of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood today, the outcome of which will affect all four of you."

Chris yawned loudly enough that he could be heard, and glanced at his watch. Jacqueline looked at me, then turned back to face the Head teacher.

"The reason being," he continued. "That all four of you are mutants."

I didn't react. My mutation was common knowledge around the school, and I suspected the same was true of Jacqueline. Chris and Chloe, however, had obviously done a better job of keeping theirs a secret.

"How did you know?!" both of them exclaimed simultaneously.

The Head ignored the question, instead going on with his story, "A new Mutant Registration Act has been pushed through the Parliament, coming into effect immediately. As a result, all Scottish schools are required by law to submit a list of all mutants attending the school. Furthermore, you yourselves are required to register as mutants by the end of the week."

"That's totally insane!" Chris exploded. "If we're mutants, it's our own damn business! The Scottish Parliament can shove that Act right up their – "

"Christopher!" the Head snapped.

Although I didn't really pay attention to the news, I'd been aware that there had been such an Act put forward and backed by many politicians. I knew there was a similar process going on in America, but it hadn't as yet been passed by their Congress.

"Don't you realise what this means?" Chris was saying to the rest of us. "This is just the first step. Once we've registered, they've got us. Next thing you know, they'll pick you up off the street for some made-up offence, and lock you away for the rest of your life, because they hate mutants!"

"Christopher, be quiet!" the Head demanded.

"Screw you. _Sir_," Chris said angrily. "Come on, guys, this is stupid. Let's go."

He turned to leave the office, but found the doorway barred by two huge, black-suited men who were waiting outside.

"Are these the ones?" one of them asked.

The Headmaster nodded, "You can take them now, but don't do anything to them. They're only children."

"What's going on?" Chris demanded. "Who are these guys? I'm not going anywhere!"

Jacqueline's eyes suddenly snapped wide open and she yelled the first word I'd heard her speak, "Run!"

Chloe and I looked at her in confusion, "What?"

"Run! It's a trap! I can read their minds! They – "

She was cut off as one of the two men hit her over the head and she lost consciousness.

"Don't hurt them, I said!" the Headmaster shouted nervously.

"What the _f**k_ is going on?!" Chris yelled. "What did you hit her for?"

"Shut up," the second man said. "Unless you want the same."

He grabbed Chris by the arm and held him still. Then he pointed to Chloe and I and said, "Get them."

The other man walked across the room towards us. Instinctively I felt myself moving in front of Chloe to protect her, but it was to no avail as I was grabbed by the collar and yanked forwards. I lost my balance and fell on to my hands and knees, my sun-glasses slipping off to land on the floor. The afternoon sun poured through the office window, directly into my eyes. I screamed.

The two men turned in surprise at the sound. I managed to pick up my shades and put them back on, then realised I had provided just the distraction Chris needed. With his captor's attention elsewhere, his arm somehow – slid – out of the man's grasp, and he ran for the door. He wasn't fast enough. The man turned to clip him around the skull, knocking him out cold.

"Now that's quite enough!" the Head yelled. "You said they'd be sedated, but you didn't say anything about hitting them about the head! They could be given permanent brain damage!"

"They'll be fine. Get the other two."

Before I could react in any way, or think of some escape plan, there was a blinding pain in the back of my head as the man struck me. I collapsed forwards and lapsed into unconsciousness.


	4. Escape Attempt

Chapter Two: Escape Attempt

When I woke up, it was dark, and I was aware of being jolted around somewhat. The next thing I noticed was that I was still wearing my sun-glasses, which was a good thing. Without them I was effectively blind, as I was forced to keep my eyes permanently closed to avoid light. As my eyes began to adjust to the dim illumination, I looked around. The other three mutants from school were with me, sitting in a half-circle, conversing in low tones.

"Hey," I said. "Where are we?"

"Oh, you're awake," Jacqueline said. "I can't tell where we are. A vehicle of some kind."

We were jolted once more as the vehicle turned a corner.

"What powers do you have?" Chris asked me.

"Huh? Why?"

"I don't know where they're taking us, but we have to get out of here. We have to escape. To do that we have to use our powers. What kind of mutation do you have?"

"My eyes."

"Ah, that explains the shades. What can you do with your eyes? Shoot laser beams at people?"

"Ahem – no. I can see over long distances."

"How long a distance?"

"I don't know. I once focused on an astronaut's footprint on the surface of the moon."

Jacqueline and Chloe raised their eyebrows and looked suitably impressed, but Chris merely said, "Is that all?"

"I can see through walls, sometimes," I said.

"You mean X-ray vision?"

"Something like that."

It was a gift that I'd discovered only fairly recently. If I sat down and stared at a wall, then concentrated – _really_ concentrated – I could force my eyes to focus on a point beyond the wall, and I'd be able to see through it. I'd only managed to get it working on one or two occasions; I suspected it was a power that would develop and grow more potent as I got older.

"Do we have a plan for escape?" Chloe asked hopefully.

Chris shrugged, "Sort of. Jacqueline and I were talking while you two were still asleep, and we think we've got a plan."  
"Let's hear it," I said.

"OK, here goes," said Jacqueline. "I don't know if I told you earlier, but I'm a telepath. I'm also telekinetic, which means I can move objects using my thoughts. Our plan was that I could use my power to stop this vehicle or whatever it is we're in, then we could make a break for it."

"Unfortunately, we've no idea where we are," said Chris. "We don't know if running is a good idea. We could be miles from any town or city."

Jacqueline looked as if she had just had an idea, "Neil, can you use your X-ray vision to look through the side of the vehicle and find out where we are?"

"I can try…you'll need to be absolutely silent, though. It takes real concentration."

They nodded, and fell silent. I sat up straight to get into a more comfortable position, and concentrated my thoughts on using my power. Staring at the side of the vehicle directly in front of me, I made my eyes focus on a point just beyond it. The trickiest part was stopping my eyes from instinctively zooming back to focus on the wall. After several tries, I met with success. The dark vehicle interior faded away to be replaced by the world outside.

"All right, it's working," I said. "You can talk now; I don't need to use much concentration any more. The hard part is forcing my eyes to look through the wall. Once I'm through, it's just like looking out of a window."

"What can you see? Where are we?"

"Well, we're not in Edinburgh any more. There's no sign of any cities or habitations. We're way out in the country. All I can see is trees and hills, oh, and there's a river way off in the distance."

"Can you see where we're going?"

"No. I'm looking through the side of the vehicle, not the front."

"So if we were to break out of here, how would you rate our chances of survival?"

I shrugged, "Hard to say. If we can find food and shelter, we should do all right."

"Where do we find food out here?" Chris asked. "I don't think we'll find a Pizza Hut out in the wilds."

"I think it's probably worth the risk," Jacqueline decided. "Chloe, you haven't told us what powers you have."

The younger girl looked up nervously and said, "Um – I can talk to animals and understand what they say. I can also control them a little bit. But I don't see how that will help us get out of this van."

Re-focusing my eyes on the inside of the vehicle, I looked over to where Chris was sitting in front of a pair of doors; obviously the back doors of the van.

"I assume those doors are locked?" I asked.

"No, they're unlocked, we're just sitting here forming an escape plan for the fun of it," he said sarcastically. "Of course they're locked. But it's not a problem."

"Why?"  
"You'll see."

"Jacqueline, can't you use your power to unlock the door?"

She shook her head, "Not if I've already used it to stop the van. Since I'm still young, I only have a limited amount of power I can use at any one time. I'd need to wait for it to recover."

"I told you, don't worry about the doors," Chris said impatiently. "They're not an issue. You'll see why when I show you my power."

"You're not going to tell us what it is, then?"

He grinned, "No. It's way more fun if I show you."

"Fine. Are we going to try our plan?"

Jacqueline nodded, "Let's do it. I'll begin now. Chris, get ready."

"I _am_ ready."

She ignored him, and closed her eyes to use her telekinetic powers. From the front of the vehicle came a small explosion, we felt it veering from side to side on the road, then finally breaking to a halt. Then came the sound of two doors slamming. The two men had obviously got out of the van to see what had happened.

"What did you do?" Chloe asked.

"Knocked a few parts of its engine out of alignment," Jacqueline grinned, the first smile I'd ever seen on her face. "I don't know much about cars, but I know it'll take them a while to fix. OK, Chris, go."

Chris turned round so that his feet were pointing towards the doors. There was a tiny gap between the two closed doors, through which our light and air was obviously coming. As I watched, Chris wedged his foot in the gap, took a deep breath, and called upon his gift.

The first thing I noticed was that the shape of his foot was changing, almost melting. It was as if he was dissolving in some sort of chemical. Soon both of his feet had vanished into a pool of viscous liquid, and his ankles were beginning to follow.

"Chris? Are you all right?" Chloe gasped. "What's going on?"

"This is my power, stupid," Chris retorted. "I can change my body from solid to liquid and back again. Now shut up, I have to concentrate hard to do this right."

I watched as his legs, knees, waist and chest disappeared into the rapidly growing puddle of fluid. His arms followed, and soon only his head remained. He flashed us a grin, took another deep breath, then his head liquefied to join the rest of him. 

"Is he all right?" Chloe hissed.

"I don't know," Jacqueline answered. "I've never seen him do this before. I assume – I _hope_ he knows what he's doing."

By this time the puddle of liquid that was Chris had begun to trickle out of the gap between the doors. We watched as he flowed through the small opening, until all of him had poured out on to the road outside. A minute or two later, we heard the lock turning, and the van doors were thrown open to reveal Chris, back in solid form, giving us that irascible grin once more. Screwing up our eyes against the sudden rush of light, the three of us climbed out of the van to join him on the road. The 'road' was more of a dirt track, flanked on both sides by a tightly packed forest of pine trees. Up ahead it turned a corner and we couldn't see where it lead.

"What – " Chloe began, before Chris put a hand over her mouth.

"Shut up!" he hissed. "Those two guys are only a few feet away looking at the engine! They'll hear you!"

"We've got to get off the road," Jacqueline said. "Neil, which way?"

"I dunno, where are we heading?"

"Wherever you think looks best."

I looked around for a moment, but I couldn't see anything past the trees. I frowned, "Let's just head for high ground. If we can get up high enough, I can have a good look at the surrounding land, and hopefully spot a town or something we can head for."

"Let's do it," said Jacqueline.

Crouching low, she hurried from the van into the cover of the forest at the side of the road. Chris and Chloe followed her, and I came after them. We wound our way through the trees for a few moments until we were confident that we couldn't be seen from the road, then remained still to keep an eye on the two men.

"That's the two guys who grabbed us at school," I said.

Jacqueline nodded, "I've been trying to read their minds to find out what they want with us, but I'm not having much success. All they know is we're to be delivered to a place called 'Site Alpha'."

"Huh? I thought they were taking us to be registered as mutants," Chloe said.

"Who cares?" Chris sighed. "Mutant-haters are all the same, they're all scum. They just want to have us locked away somewhere."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"It's because they're afraid of us," Jacqueline said. "They don't trust us to use our powers responsibly. I mean, I'm a telepath. I could use my power to read somebody's mind and find out all sorts of personal information. I could do a lot of damage with my telekinesis. And although I've never tried it, I believe I'm also capable of controlling other people's minds and making them do things."

"_Awesome_," Chris grinned.

"As for Chris, he could use his power to sneak in and out of almost anywhere," she continued. "He could rob a bank, act as a spy, even commit murder, and no security system could stop him."

"That is true. I speak from experience," Chris said, his grin growing even larger. "Apart from committing murder, of course."

"Neil, with your vision, nothing would be secure. If you can focus on things from thousands of miles away, and look through solid objects, then – "

"All right, we get the picture," said Chris. "People hate us because they're jealous of our powers, and they think we'll misuse them. Does that give them the right to lock us away? Did they lock Einstein away because he was a genius? That's just as dangerous in its own way."

"Can we concentrate on getting to safety first, before debating the mutant issue?" I asked. "We need to get to high ground. I'm not sure which way to head…"

"Wait, I've got an idea," Jacqueline said. "There must be plenty of wildlife out here. Chloe, can you use your power to talk to an animal and ask it which way we should go?"

"I can try," she said, not sounding confident. "It depends on the kind of animal."

"How?"

"Well, dogs are best. Their minds are simple enough that communication is easy. Cats are slightly harder because their brains are slightly more developed. Birds are difficult because they aren't mammals. Fish and insects are almost impossible for me, until I develop my power further."

"What are we likely to find out here?" I asked, looking around me for any animals that might be nearby.

Chloe shrugged, "Birds and insects, but like I said, they're too difficult for me. Maybe a fox. A wolf would be nice. They're very similar to dogs."

"Can't you summon them in some way with your power?" Chris asked.

"If I can, I haven't learned how to do it yet. We'll just have to explore and see what we can find."

"All right, that's our plan," Jacqueline said. "When those guys finish fixing the engine, they'll realise we're gone, so we'd better make ourselves scarce before that happens."

The four of us turned away from the road, taking one glance at the men working to repair the van's engine, and ventured further into the trees.

"Keep your eyes open for any animals," Chloe said. "Preferably a mammal."

"There was a wasp buzzing around my head a minute ago, but it flew off," said Chris. "Sorry, I didn't manage to get its phone number."

She ignored his attempt at a joke, and continued to lead the way into the forest. I was looking around as I walked, trying to spot anything that might be of any help to us, when Chloe put a hand on my arm and whispered, "Stop."

"Why?"

"There's a fox just up ahead. All of you, please stay still and don't make any noise. I'm going to try and talk to it. I've never really tried it with a wild animal before. It might not work."

I crouched down to avoid being seen by the fox, and watched as Chloe slowly inched her way forward, stopping every few moments to allow the animal to get used to her presence. The fox had spotted her, and was eyeing her cautiously. I could see that its muscles were tensed and it was ready to dart away at the first sign of danger.

"Hello," said Chloe to the fox. "Do you understand me?"

"Why the hell is she speaking to it in English?" Chris muttered.

Jacqueline shot him a furious glance and put a finger to her lips. He made a face at her but fell silent and watched Chloe.

"Don't be afraid," she was saying to the animal. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need your help."

The fox slowly trotted forward and sniffed her outstretched hand cautiously. Then it looked up at her, licked its lips, and sat on its hind legs, waiting for her to continue.

"Do you know this area well?"

The fox replied with a bark.

"Good. We need to get to high ground. Can you tell us how to reach the nearest hill?"

The fox responded with a series of barks and growls, then licked its lips once more.

"All right. Thank you."

The animal turned and disappeared into the undergrowth. Chloe straightened once more and turned to face us, "It worked. We have to head that way."

She pointed in a direction that was roughly at a right angle to the route we were presently following.

"How far do we have to go?" Jacqueline asked.

"I don't know," Chloe admitted. "Foxes obviously can't use our number system, so it couldn't give me a distance. I think the journey would take about a day or two from here, if you were a fox."

"Which we're _not_," Chris responded instantly. "Did you learn any other not-particularly-useful facts?"

"Why don't _you_ try talking to it, if you're so clever?" Chloe retorted angrily. "Why don't you make yourself useful instead of criticising others?"

"Make myself useful?" Chris laughed. "We'd still be stuck in that van if it wasn't for me! A fat lot of good your talking to animals would have done then!"

"Oh, leave me alone," said Chloe, turning away, visibly upset.

"All right, if you're quite finished tearing each other to shreds," said Jacqueline pointedly. "Our only option seems to be to follow the information Chloe's given us. We don't know how long it will take but two days seems like a reasonable estimate for now. It's getting dark so we'll walk a short distance tonight then try and set up a camp somewhere."

"It's cold, too," said Chloe, shivering – she wasn't wearing a jacket, only a T-shirt.

"Here," I said, taking off my jacket and handing it to her. "I don't need it right now."

I was wearing a sweater as well as a T-shirt underneath so I was warm enough without it. Chloe gave me a grateful smile, and put on the jacket. It was a little big for her, and her hands barely poked out of the sleeves, but at least it kept her warm.

"All right, let's go," said Jacqueline.

We walked on, following the path that we hoped would lead to the hill. Once we got there, if we could climb high enough, I'd be able to see everything for miles around. With any luck, we weren't too far away from a large town or city.

As darkness fell, we continued walking through the forest. None of us spoke, even Chris seemed to have exhausted his never-ending supply of wisecracks. Each of us saved his or her breath for walking, and another hour past as the sun sank down below the horizon. Jacqueline led the way, seemingly tireless, stepping over rocks and other obstacles with enviable grace. Chris was less fortunate, and cursed and swore every time he lost his footing in the darkness. Glancing behind me, I saw Chloe stumbling along in exhaustion, forcing herself to keep following the rest of us. As we continued, I noticed the youngest member of our group was lagging further and further behind.

"Wait!" she called eventually. "I can't go any further! I'm too tired."

Chris stopped, and turned, "Why don't you just ask the next fox we see to carry you on his back?"

She was too tired to respond. Jacqueline realised that Chloe couldn't go on any longer, and called a halt, "OK, let's try to find somewhere sheltered where we can camp tonight. Chris, you go and look for some firewood."

"Oh yeah?" he demanded. "And how are we going to start this fire?"

"I'm telekinetic, did you forget?"

"Oh, of course. I must be tired too. I'll get some wood."

After a few minutes, we discovered the perfect place to spend the night. A small recess underneath an overhanging embankment; it would be sheltered from the wind and rain, and there was enough room for all of us. Chris brought back some branches and leaves, and dropped them in a pile in the middle of the hollow.

"I hope those were dead branches," Chloe said accusingly. "We've got no right to go around tearing branches from living trees."

"They were lying on the ground, if that's what you mean. Now then, telekinetic, let's see some fire. I'm freezing."

Jacqueline stared at the pile of wood for a few seconds, then without warning it burst into flame. The fire was far enough into our hollow that there was no danger of it spreading and starting a forest fire, so we sat in a circle around it and rested our tired bones after a good three hours' walking. Eventually Chris broke the silence.

"You know," he said. "I just realised. If I don't come home from school tonight, nobody will care. My dad took off years ago, and my mum will too doped up on drugs and cigarettes to even notice."

"That's terrible," Chloe said sympathetically. "I know my parents will be worried sick."

"Do they know you're a mutant?"

"Oh, yes. They figured it out before I did, in fact. It was them who told me."

"What about you, Neil?"

I looked over at him, "My parents died when I was a baby. I don't remember anything about them. I live with my grandparents."

"And they don't mind you being a mutant?"

"They've never done or said anything to suggest a problem."

"Jacqueline, how about you?"

Jacqueline frowned, and for the first time looked upset, as if she wasn't in control of her emotions. It was as if a window into her inner self had suddenly opened. Her voice shook, "My parents disowned me and moved back to France when they found out about my mutation. I've been living with a foster family since I was 7."

"How _awful_," Chloe said. "I never realised how lucky I was, that my parents still loved me."

Just as quickly as it had opened, the door to Jacqueline's inner feelings was closed shut and she became her cold, rational self once more, "Everybody get some sleep. We've got another day's walking ahead of us tomorrow."

I lay down a yard or so away from the fire, and gathered together a pile of leaves to use a make-shift pillow. I saw Chloe lying down close to me, and she said, "Do you want your coat back now?"

"Not if you need it. I'm OK without it."

She smiled, "Thanks."

Pulling my jacket over her as a blanket, she shut her eyes and tried to go to sleep. From the other side of the fire, I heard Chris already snoring. Yawning, I hoped he wasn't one of those people who could fall asleep in an instant then keep everybody else awake by snoring loudly all night. Closing my eyes, I took off my sun-glasses and laid my head down to rest. Sleep came surprisingly quickly, and I drifted off while wondering dreamily what the next day would hold.


	5. In the Village

Chapter Three: In the Village

Instinctively keeping my eyes closed when I woke, I felt around for my shades, and put them on. Opening my eyes, I noticed that some time during the night, Chloe had snuggled up to me for extra warmth. Her face was pressed tightly against my shoulder, and I shook her gently, "Hey. Wake up."

Chloe stirred and her eyes opened, looking up at me. She realised how close she was, and moved away a little, "Sorry."

The fire had died during the night and only a pile of ashes now sat in the middle of our hollow. Jacqueline and Chris were nowhere to be seen. They must have been outside somewhere. I got to my feet, stretching my arms and legs to get rid of the stiffness that had set in, and ventured outside the hollow. They were standing a few yards away, examining a plant of some kind.

"Hey," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for food," Jacqueline said. There must be edible plants here somewhere."

I glanced to my right as Chloe appeared at my side, rubbing her eyes, asking, "Why didn't you wake us?"

"We were going to, but you looked so cosy together," Chris grinned suggestively.

Chloe blushed, "Shut up."

"Do either of you know anything about plants?" Jacqueline asked. "We need to find something to eat."

"Here's an idea," said Chris. "Chloe, why don't you use your power to lure some animal towards us, then we can eat that?"

It had been an innocent suggestion, and he certainly wasn't expecting the shove in the chest he got from Chloe.

"How dare you?!" she shrieked. "Do you think I'm going to use my power to gain an animal's trust, just so you can kill it? What kind of a person are you?!"

Chris didn't take kindly to being shoved about. He shoved her back, a lot harder, and she stumbled and fell on to the ground.

"Want to start something, do you?" he demanded, stepping forward with his fists clenched.

I moved in front of him, "Leave her alone."

"Or what? You'll shoot laser beams out of your eyes at me?"

"I said: leave her alone. If you're looking for a fight, pick on somebody your own age, size and sex."

"Like you, you mean?"

"Chris…"

"Shove it!"

He threw a punch, and I tried to duck to avoid it. It never came. I straightened to see Chris' fist still thrust out towards me, hanging motionless in mid-air. Off to the side, I could see Jacqueline, her arm outstretched, using her power to hold his fist in place.

"That's enough, both of you," she said. "We're in a bad enough situation without the two of you trying to show who's the hard man. We _have_ to work together if we're going to have any chance. Agreed?"

"Agreed," I said.

Chris shrugged, "Whatever."

"All right, then let's keep going," said Jacqueline. "After a while we'll stop and look for food again. There must be some berries or fungi we can eat."

She relaxed, and Chris' arm was released from her telepathy. He let it drop back to his side, glared at me, then turned away and began walking. I helped Chloe to her feet, and we followed Jacqueline and Chris on the route we hoped would lead to higher ground. When the others were sufficiently far ahead, Chloe fell into step beside me, and gave me a shy glance.

"I just want to say thanks," she said. "For sticking up for me like that."

"No problem."

"I know I shouldn't have lost my temper. I just get so _mad_ when people talk about killing animals. Animals are intelligent creatures with feelings and emotions. I – I just can't _stand_ people who want to kill them. It's murder."

I didn't say anything. I had no qualms about eating meat, but I didn't want to tell her that in case she was offended. I could understand her viewpoint, but I didn't feel strongly enough about it to actually change my diet.

A little later, we had a slice of luck. Growing in the shade of a large pine tree, we discovered a crop of wild strawberries. Chris and Jacqueline picked the ones that looked the ripest, and there were enough for us to have a handful each. We felt better after eating them, and set on our way with renewed vigour.

"You know," Jacqueline said, an hour or so later, when we were walking in the shade provided by a dense canopy of overhanging trees. "I think we're definitely heading uphill. These last few minutes have been much harder walking."

"Or we could just be getting tired out," said Chris. "I play football regularly with my friends, so I'm in pretty good physical shape, if I say so myself. I don't know about the rest of you."

"I hate long walks," Chloe panted, getting her breath back. "I just don't have the stamina."

"I don't really get a huge amount of exercise, but I reckon I'm fit enough," I said. "I agree with Jacqueline; I think we _are_ moving uphill."

"I hope we get to the top soon," said Chloe.

"I don't. We need to get as high as possible. The higher up we get, the further I can see once we get there."

It took three more hours to reach the summit, and by the time we got there even Jacqueline was beginning to tire. When we finally emerged from the trees on to the top of the hill, Chloe gratefully sank down on to the rock floor to rest her exhausted body. Chris, unwilling to show any signs of weakness or fatigue, casually leaned against a rock. Jacqueline looked as calm and imperturbable as always, and said to me, "What can you see?"

I had an uninhibited view of the surrounding land in all directions, and I moved around in a slow circle, changing my focus from near to far alternately, passing my eyes over every inch of countryside that lay before us.

"There's a river over that way," I said, pointing east. "I think it's the same one I spotted from the van."

"We could do worse than head for the river," Chris said. "It might lead us to a town."

"Ah! Wait!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, I can see a village!"

"Really? Where?"

I pointed north, "That way. About three miles."

"How big is it?"

"Dunno. It's got a few houses, and there's a general store. We can buy food and stuff, and find out exactly where we are. Maybe there's even transport we can use to get home."

"All right," said Jacqueline. "Let's go."

We were all still tired, but all of us felt encouraged by the news, and for a while we forgot how weary we were. Walking downhill was also a lot easier, and it didn't seem like all that long before we were standing at the crest of a very small hill overlooking the village.

"How does it look?" Jacqueline asked me.

I squinted over the few hundred yards that separated us from the small community, and shrugged, "Looks just like a normal village. There's a few people in the street, mostly children. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't go down there."

"Good. OK, let's – "

"Uh-oh, wait a minute! What's this?" I said.

"What can you see?"

I frowned, "There's a set of newspapers on a stand outside the general store."

"And?" Chris asked impatiently.

"And – um – we're on the front page."

"_What_?!"

"There's pictures of each of us. Wait, I'll try and read the article. Here goes: 

****

A nation-wide search has begun for the four missing teenagers who disappeared from their school in Edinburgh early yesterday afternoon. Jacqueline Cartier, Neil Rosiçky, Chris Garcia and Chloe Scott (all pictured above) have been positively identified as mutants, and are believed to have fled from home to escape the implications of the new Mutant Registration Act. Though it is unknown exactly what mutations they possess, there is no doubt that they are dangerous. Already they are believed to be responsible for at least three murders. If you think you have seen them, do NOT approach them. Instead notify your nearest police officer."

"But we haven't murdered anybody!" Chloe protested.

"Of course we haven't. It's just typical newspaper mutant-hating propaganda," Chris spat.

"I don't understand."

"I'll try to explain," said Jacqueline. "They're trying to track us down, but we're only children. To avoid appearing like child-hunting monsters, they have to try and make out that _we're_ the monsters. Hence the murder allegation and the emphasis on us being mutants."

"But it's a total lie!" Chloe exclaimed. "They can't print lies in the newspaper!"

"They haven't lied. All they've said is that we're _believed_ to have committed murder. It's carefully worded."

"So what do we do now?" Chris demanded. "We can't go down into the village with our faces all over the front page of the papers!"

"I don't see that we have any other choice," Jacqueline said. "We have to find out where we are. We have to buy food. Incidentally, who's got money?"

I felt in my pocket, "I've got a few pounds."

Chris shrugged, "Nothing. I'm from the slums, remember. We don't have any money."

"I've got about fifty pence," Chloe said.

"I've got ten pounds," said Jacqueline. "That should be enough to buy food for a couple of days. We just have to find a way to get down there without being identified."

I had an idea, "Can't you use your mind power to make people think they're seeing somebody different?"

"Or if somebody _does_ identify us, use your power to make them forget about it," Chris added.

"I could," said Jacqueline. "But only once or twice. I've only got a small amount of power I can use at once, remember."

"Neil, how recent are the photographs?" asked Chris. "Any chance we might not be recognised from them?"

I stared towards the village once more and focused on the general store, then on the newspapers in front of it.

"Well, my picture must be a few years old, because I'm not wearing my sun-glasses in it," I said. "Gosh, I can't be any older than eight. My eyes looked normal back then. They must have found the most recent picture they could without my glasses."

"What about the rest of us?" he asked restlessly.

"Yours looks just like you. Jacqueline – mmm, well – you might get away with it. Chloe's looks just like her as well."

"All right, we'll have to find some sort of disguise," said Chris. "Hey, lend me your shades. That ought to hide my eyes; maybe people won't recognise me."

"I can't take them off."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because the sun hurts my eyes."

"It can't be _that_ bad."

"Try to imagine burning oil being poured over the inside of your skull."

He raised an eyebrow, "That bad, huh?"

"Yes. Forget about the shades."

He sighed, and fell silent. For a while nobody said anything, each of us trying to think of a way round the problem. Eventually Chris said, "To hell with it. Let's just take the risk and go down there anyway. We can't keep running forever."

"I think that's the only option," Jacqueline agreed. "Let's do it."

We walked down the side of the hill and approached the village, feeling apprehensive. The general store, where we hoped we'd be able to buy food, was at the far end of the single street that made up the community. We walked past a few houses, small but neat-looking, with well-tended gardens in front. A child, maybe three years old, was sitting at the side of the road, and gazed up at us curiously as we passed. There were a couple of other people on the street as well, but thankfully they passed us without a second glance. We reached the shop without anyone raising the alarm.

"So far, so good," said Jacqueline. "Let's go in."

Inside the shop, a middle-aged woman stood behind a counter with a cash register, looking bored. Two small boys, twins, were playing with toy cars on the floor near her. The store appeared to have a small amount of stock, but it was enough to buy the essentials we needed. The woman looked up as we entered, and gave us a shrewd shopkeeper's once-over. Unfortunately, she recognised us from the newspapers.

"You're – you're those mutants from the paper!" she gasped. "Danny, Tommy, get in the back! Now!"

"So much for being inconspicuous," Chris muttered.

The two little boys looked up, annoyed at their play being interrupted, but obediently went into the back of the building through the door behind the counter. The woman opened the cash register and said in a trembling voice, "You can take the money! You can take anything you want! Just don't hurt me or my children!"

"We don't want to hurt anybody," said Jacqueline. "We're not what you think."

"The – the papers say you – you've murdered people! That you're mutants!"

"It's not true. We are mutants, but we've done nothing wrong."

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"We need to buy food. Please, don't be afraid. We're not going to hurt you."

"But you're mutants!"

Jacqueline shrugged, "That's the way we were born. We're on the run because people want to take our freedom away. Please, trust us."

The woman seemed to calm down a little, and said, "Well…I suppose you are only children. You can't be all that bad. What do you want to buy?"

Jacqueline picked a few essentials: bread, milk, fruit, cheese, (Chloe wouldn't allow her to buy meat) and paid the nervous woman for our purchases. We left the shop and stood in the street outside.

"Ah well, that went OK," Chris said. "You forgot to ask her where we are, though."

"No, I didn't," said Jacqueline. "I read her thoughts. I also had to use my telepathy to calm her down a bit; she was in danger of having a heart attack."

"So where are we?"

"The village is called Forest Green – imaginative, I know – and we're in the Highlands. A good two hundred miles away from Edinburgh, at least."

Chloe gasped, "How are we going to get home?"

"There's a larger town a few miles up the road, with a bus terminal and a train station," Jacqueline said.

"Uh-uh. We can't use public transport," Chris argued. "The train's station one of the first places they'll have guarded if somebody's on the run."

"Well, we can't _walk_ back to Edinburgh," I said.

Chloe started sobbing, "I just wanna go home! I wanna see my mum and dad again!"
    
    I put my arm around her and she cried into my shoulder. Jacqueline looked thoughtful, then said, "I can only think of one thing we can do."

"What?"  
"Well, doesn't this whole thing strike you as strange? First of all we're grabbed from school. Then we find out we're being framed for murder and there's a nation-wide search to bring us in. Doesn't that seem a little bit over the top just to catch four young mutants who don't want to be registered?"

"There's an understatement if I ever heard one," said Chris. "I thought it was just because people are mutant-hating bigots, but I guess you're right."

"So what's your thought?" I asked of Jacqueline.

"Somebody must want _us_ specifically, for some reason," she said. "I don't know who, and I can't begin to imagine how we're going to find out. But if we can find out who it is, and why they want us, we might be able to clear our names and find a way home. Even if we _did_ find a way home now, we'd be picked up instantly for these non-existent murders."

"I _told_ you we'd be arrested on made-up charges as soon as they found out we were mutants," Chris said. "But I agree. Something's behind all this. We've got to find out what it is. Neil, Chloe, are you with us?"

"I am," I said. "You do realise we're on our own, though? We can't trust anybody except each other. We don't even know any other mutants who might be willing to help us."

Chloe wiped her tears on the sleeve of my jacket, which she was still wearing, "I agree with your plan. I'm scared and upset and I don't think it'll work, but there's nothing else we can do."

"All right," said Jacqueline. "Let's get out of here before somebody else recognises us, and try to make some plans."

She led us back the way we had come, down the main street and towards the small hill outside the village. Chloe was still crying, and looked terrified. She clutched my hand and refused to let go. 

"Will you look after me?" she whispered.

"Yes. I will."

We followed Chris and Jacqueline out of the town, and I wondered what was going to happen to us. Somebody, out there somewhere, had set their sights on us. We didn't know why, and we didn't know when they'd strike next. We were on our own with nothing but our mutant powers to protect us. Did we have any hope at all?


	6. The Facility

A/N: thanks to everyone who has reviewed. If you have a favourite character you'd like me to concentrate on more, let me know.

Chapter Four: The Facility

Once more we stood atop the small hill next to the village, and tried to come up with some plan or idea that might see us out of this mess.

"To be honest, I can't see any way we can do this," said Chris, kicking at a loose rock and watching it roll down the hillside. "We can't stay in hiding forever, either."

"We've got to find out who it is that's searching for us, and what they want us for," Jacqueline restated. "I can think of one possible plan – though it's not an attractive one."

"Let's hear it."

"We could allow ourselves to be captured. Presumably we'd be taken to whoever it is that wants us, and hopefully we could make our escape once we get there, and start trying to clear our names."

"We've already escaped from them once," I pointed out. "Would they be careless enough to let it happen again?"

"Here's a plan," said Chris. "You three allow yourselves to be captured. I'll change myself into liquid form and sneak on board whatever mode of transport they use. Once we get there, I'll change back to solid and set you free."

"How long can you stay in liquid form?"

"Dunno. I've never needed to do it for more than, oh, twenty minutes at a time."

"In that case, it's risky," said Jacqueline. "It could take ages to get there, though I'm assuming it's in this country somewhere, since we were being driven there earlier. If you can't stay in liquid form for long enough, you'll be captured too."

"And they might not take us back to – wherever – until they've caught all four of us," Chloe said.

"I suppose," said Chris reluctantly. "It's still a good plan, though. We just need to vary it slightly."

"How about _I _stay behind while you three get captured?" I said. "I can watch and see where they take you, then I'll come and get you out."

"I dunno, you'll be on foot. It could be miles away."

"True…"

There came the sound of a twig snapping from behind us. I whirled round to see who was there. A large Alsatian dog, eyeing us speculatively, stood a few yards away.

"Oh, no. That's a hunting dog," Jacqueline hissed. "They're tracking us down already!"

"Run for it!" Chris yelled.

"No, it's OK!" said Chloe hurriedly. "Just keep an eye out for its handler."

Of course. We'd forgotten about her power over animals. Chloe crouched down to make herself appear less threatening, and inched forward towards the dog, holding out her hand for it to sniff. The dog looked at her curiously, turning its head on one side.

"Hello," she said. "Are you hunting us?"

The dog grunted a response.

"Please leave us alone. Please let us go."

The Alsatian sniffed at her hand, and its tail began to wag. It gave a joyful bark, and Chloe quickly patted it on the neck to calm it down, "You've got to be quiet, we don't want to be found. Forget you saw us, OK?"

The dog licked her hand, and nuzzled against her arm.

"I think it's in love," Chris whispered.

Suddenly the dog began sniffing the air. It nudged Chloe with its snout and whined.

"What's the matter? Do you smell something?" she asked.

The dog gave a few short barks, and Chloe turned to us, "Somebody's coming. Get under cover."

Turning back to the dog, she said quickly, "I've got to go now. Thank you for your help."

The dog barked happily, and hurried away down the hillside. Chloe joined the rest of us as we ran to find somewhere to hide. I ducked behind the cover of a huge oak tree; Chris and Chloe joined me. Jacqueline was crouching behind a big rock a few yards away, and waved her hand to get my attention. When she knew I was looking her way, she tapped her eyes, then pointed ahead of her. I shrugged to indicate I didn't understand.

_Use your X-ray vision to look through the tree and see who's there_! I could hear her voice in my head, and I almost replied to her, realising just in time that she was using her telepathy. I nodded to her, and faced the tree to begin using my power. We could hear the sound of somebody's footsteps, and knew they had to be just feet away. 

"Boris? Boris?" a man's voice said impatiently. "Where are you, you stupid dog?!" 

I focused my eyes beyond the tree, and it melted out of my vision to be replaced by an image of what lay behind. A man, wearing black clothes, was looking in all directions, whistling for the dog. All of a sudden there came a strange sensation in my head. It felt like – actually, I'd never felt anything like it before. I began to panic.

_Relax_, came Jacqueline's telepathic voice, _it's just me. I'm reading your mind and sending your vision to Chris. Chris, I want you to change into liquid and get out there. I'll distract the guy and you hit him from behind. Any time you're ready._

"Boris?!" came the man's voice again.

Chris was behind me, so I couldn't see him, but I assumed he had given her a thumbs-up or some other affirmative signal. I heard the vague gurgling sound that I had heard the last time he had changed form, and the next thing I knew, a clear liquid was flowing past my feet. I looked down.

_Keep your attention on the man,_ Jacqueline said, _I need to read your vision._

I returned my eyes to the tree, and forced them to focus beyond once more. I could see the man again. He was still looking for his dog. He was downhill from us, which made it easy for Chris to move towards him as a liquid. I watched as the clear puddle, almost invisible on the rocky ground, moved over behind the man then stopped. I wasn't sure if Jacqueline was still reading my mind, so I raised my left hand to give her a thumbs-up.

_OK, Chris, get ready. Here goes._

She stepped out from behind the rock. The man saw her instantly, "Hey! Stop!"

She stopped. He looked her over. From behind him I could see Chris, re-coalescing into his normal solid shape.

"You're one of the ones we're looking for," the man said triumphantly. "All right, hands behind your head and come this way. Don't try any tricks. I know what you freaks are like. Come on, move!"

With a smirk on his face, Chris struck the man in the back of the head with the flat of his hand. The man was knocked out instantly, and fell forward on to his face. Chloe clapped her hands excitedly, and the two of us came out from beside the tree to stand over the man's unmoving form.

"He is alive, isn't he?" I asked.

"He's alive," Chris nodded, kneeling down to search the man's body. "I'd have to hit him harder than _that_ to kill him."

"Was that your power as well?" Chloe asked. "I didn't know you could knock somebody out that easily."

"No, that was just a bit of martial arts. I used to belong to a class. My mutant power's the solid-to-liquid thing, if you hadn't noticed," he finished sarcastically

"Well, you might have had more than one power for all I knew."

"What's he got on him?" Jacqueline asked.

Chris unzipped the man's jacket and felt through the inside pockets, "Here's something."

He pulled out a map, "Perfect, it's a map of the area."

Handing it to Jacqueline, he continued looking through the man's pockets. Pulling out a wallet, he opened it and looked inside, "Hey, some money. We can buy more food now."

Taking out a handful of five and ten pound notes, he stuffed them into his jeans pocket and looked through the rest of the wallet.

"Ah," said Jacqueline, consulting the map. "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"Remember when I read those guys' minds, back when we escaped from their van? They were taking us to a place called 'Site Alpha'. There's something called 'Site Alpha' marked here on the map."

I looked at the map over her shoulder, "Right. That must be where they were taking us. Any idea how to get there?"

"Is that where we'll find the person who's trying to capture us?" Chloe asked.

"Maybe. I'm trying to figure out where we are just now," said Jacqueline.

"Well, there's the river. And that must be the village we just left," I said, pointing to a spot on the map.

"Yeah, so we must be about _here_. Hey, we're not from this 'Site Alpha', whatever it is. It's only about five miles away."

"Are we going there?" asked Chloe.

"I think we have to. It's the only way we'll find out what's going on."

"Nothing else on this guy," said Chris. "Neil, give me a hand to carry him, and we'll dump him in some bushes so nobody sees him. By the time he wakes up we should be long gone."

We manhandled the unconscious figure into some nearby undergrowth, and returned to find the girls looking at the map once more.

"I think this is our best route," said Jacqueline, tracing a path from our current position to the spot marked 'Site Alpha'.

"We'll need to watch out for more patrols," said Chris. "We might not be lucky enough to find the man and dog separated next time."

Jacqueline indicated the direction we had to travel, and we set out on our way. It was still hard going, hiking across the rocky, uneven ground, through the deep undergrowth, but this time we had a supply of food to keep ourselves going, and the walk didn't feel quite so bad. We estimated we'd travelled about half of the distance to the facility when we found a small spring running through the forest, and Jacqueline allowed us to rest and drink for a few minutes. I knelt beside the stream and took my shades off, keeping my eyes closed while dipping my hands in the water and splashing the refreshing cold liquid over my face. I heard the sound of somebody sitting down beside me, and Chloe's voice saying, "Neil? Can I see your eyes?"

With a sudden sadness I recalled all too vividly the last time a girl had asked me that question. Four years ago now, that fateful day when I'd discovered who – or more precisely _what _– I truly was.

"I can't. The sun hurts my eyes too much," I said, echoing my own words of four years ago.

And now comes the point where she's supposed to ask 'Neil, do you love me?', I told myself bitterly. I ran my hands under the cold water again, and dipped my head down to drink a mouthful.

"Neil?" said Chloe, sounding uncertain and nervous.

"Yes?"

"This will sound silly, but do you – um – like me at all? Even a little bit? I don't mean as a friend, I mean – um, well, you know…do you like me as a girl?"

I nearly laughed. She'd asked the question, just as Claire had done. History was repeating itself. I didn't hesitate in answering, "Yes, I do."

Now she's got to say 'if you really do love me, let me see your eyes', I thought. Just like Claire had. Would I open my eyes and endure the agony if Chloe asked me to? Just as I done for Claire? Yes, I decided, for Chloe I would.

"Oh," she was saying, sounding surprised. "Well, um…thanks. I kinda like you too, as a guy, I mean. I know you're a year older than me, but…I still like you. I just wish we could have got to know each other under different circumstances. Here."

She pressed my sun-glasses into my hands, and I heard her get up and walk off. Putting my shades back on, I opened my eyes to see her approaching Jacqueline, who was still poring over the map. She hadn't done as I had expected. She hadn't used my feelings for her to blackmail me into doing something I didn't want to do. She'd respected my wishes and my pain. Something Claire had never done. I found myself thinking about Chloe, and how much I'd got to know her in the short time since I'd first met her yesterday – gosh, had it only been yesterday? Having spent most of my adolescent years being the target of hatred and revulsion from nearly everybody I knew, it was a welcome change to meet somebody who was so considerate, so kind, who didn't put her own feelings ahead of others'. Chloe was already a rare person because of her gift, but her personality made her rarer still. I got to my feet and walked over towards her and Jacqueline. Was I falling in love with Chloe? Yes, I decided I was.

We set out again a few minutes later. Jacqueline and Chris were leading the way as usual, and I walked behind with Chloe. I quickly noticed that her nervousness, or some of it at least, was gone. She seemed so much more at ease, chatting away to me, blushing and smiling at me when her hand not too accidentally brushed against mine for more than a moment or two. I was almost able to forget thoughts of our plight, and the desperate mission we were on to clear our names of murder.

But not for long. When we got close to the point on the map that was marked at 'Site Alpha', Jacqueline had us move much more cautiously, and constantly asked me to scour the land ahead, looking through trees and other obstacles when necessary, to ensure we weren't walking into a trap. When we were almost on top of the marked area on the map, I could begin to hear the sounds of machinery from somewhere ahead.

"Anybody else hear that?" I asked. "There's definitely something here."

"Let's find a vantage point where you can spy on them," said Jacqueline. "There's a small hill over there, let's go that way."

We climbed the small yet steep incline, and I found a breach in the tree-line where I could see down on to site Alpha. Below us stood a single, multi-storey building that looked like something out of a science-fiction film. It had a small dock which sat on the edge of the lazily flowing river, a helicopter pad on the roof, and a small airstrip at the back. The front entrance was on the opposite side from the dock, and was well-guarded by men, dogs, turrets and security cameras.

"Wow," was all I said.

"This looks like something out of _Star Wars_," said Chris. "It's a hidden facility, way up in the wilds of Scotland, where nobody could find it. I wonder who owns it."

"The person who's after us, most likely," said Jacqueline. "We've got to get in there."

"How? Have you seen how well guarded that entrance is?"

"There's a back entrance," I said. "Over there, look. It comes out on the dock."

"And it isn't guarded," Chris grinned. "That's our way in."

Chloe frowned, "It looks dangerous."

"Who ever said safety was fun?" Chris asked. "All right, Jacqueline, how are we going to handle this?"

Jacqueline licked her lips and surveyed the facility, trying to make a decision, "Well, the back entrance _is_ unguarded. But I don't see how you can get there without walking past the guards at the front entrance. The only other way to the back door is a sheer drop from up here."

I looked down, "That's at least two hundred feet. There's no way we can climb down. Jacqueline, can you use your power to lower somebody down slowly?"

"No," she said. "Well, in theory, yes. But I can't promise my power would last long enough to get them all the way down. It's too risky."

"Don't worry, I can get down," said Chris.

"How?" asked Chloe.

He gave her a devilish grin, "You know I never like to tell you these things outright. Watch and you shall discover."

"You're sure you can make it down there?" Jacqueline asked.

He sighed impatiently, "_Yes_. I wouldn't be volunteering if I wasn't sure. It's not an issue, so don't worry. Start thinking about what you want me to do once I get inside."

"Stage some kind of distraction," she said. "Get those guards away from the front of the facility. That way the rest of us can sneak past and get in the back door."

"Chloe could do that," he said. "The distraction, I mean. Just get a few animals to cause a disturbance. While she's doing that, I'll get to work on disabling the security cameras and turrets."

"You can do that?" I asked.

"I have a friend who's a computer hacker. He's taught me a few tricks."

Jacqueline nodded, "All right, we'll go with that. Chloe, are you all right with your part?"

"I think so. I don't want any animals to get hurt, though, so I can't ask them to attack the guards or anything."

"Just distract them."

"OK, I think I can manage that. What are you and Neil going to do?"

"We're going to stay here," she decided. "Neil can look through the walls and guide Chris through the facility until he reaches the security controls, wherever they are. I'll use my telepathy and act as a communications relay. Anything you want to say to each other, just think it to me, and I'll pass it on."

"How does that work? We're not telepathic," said a confused Chris. "We can't _think_ a message to you."

"You won't have to. Just think of the message, and I'll read your mind to receive it. This will need all my concentration, so I'll be totally vulnerable when it's happening. Neil, I also need you to keep an eye out for anyone who might find us."

"Can do."

"All right. Let's move. Chloe, you're first."

Chloe turned and disappeared into the forest. I felt an aching urge to go after her, to protect her from danger, but I knew I couldn't. We all had to play our part for this to succeed, and I knew she would have to look after herself.

"What if she can't do it? What if she can't find any animals? What if she screws up?" Chris said cynically. "I mean, she's only – "

"Only what?" I interrupted angrily "Only a girl?"

"_No_. I was going to say she's only a kid. Can we rely on her?"

"We have to," said Jacqueline. "Stop worrying about it and concentrate on your own part. You'd better get ready."  
"Damn it, woman, I _am _ready. I'm _always_ ready."

"Then do it."

Chris flashed us his confident, almost arrogant grin, and walked towards the edge of the precipice that overlooked the facility. I watched as he looked down at the building for a moment or two, then took a deep breath – 

and stepped off the edge.

"What the hell's he _doing_?" I gasped.

Jacqueline and I hurried to the edge and looked down. Chris, in free-fall, called upon his gift, and changed from solid to liquid in mid-air. As a liquid, he splashed unhurt on to the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. If the guards had heard anything, they would assume it was merely the river. I peered down as Chris changed back to solid, and flashed the grin up at me again, knowing I would be able to see it.

"Well, you can't fault his confidence," Jacqueline said.

"Yeah…not so sure about his sanity."

We watched as Chris approached the back door, and tried to open it. It wouldn't open. Focusing on the door, I couldn't see any handles or bars that might facilitate its opening. Ah, there was a keypad beside the door. Obviously a security code was needed to open it.

"OK, this is a problem," I said. "How's he going to get in? Can you read someone's mind and get the code?"

"He's fine. Look."

Chris was changing again, his body liquefying into a puddle in front of the door. As I watched, he slowly seeped underneath the door and into the facility.

"Right. This is where you need your X-ray vision, and I need to start acting as communications relay," said Jacqueline, closing her eyes. "Don't try talking to me normally, I won't hear it. Think it to me."

"Think it to you," I repeated. "OK…"

A moment's silence, then I heard her voice in my head, _Can you all hear me?_

__

Yes, I heard Chris responding. Weird. It was almost as if he was right there talking to me, but I knew it was really Jacqueline reading the message from his mind and forwarding it to all of us.

__

Me too! added Chloe.

__

And me, I thought.

__

All right. Chloe, what's your status?

Nearly ready. Where's Chris?

He's inside. Neil, where is he exactly?

He's going the wrong way, actually. Chris, go back to that fork and turn left.

OK, Shades.

And don't call me Shades.

Sorry, Shades.

Chris! I responded.

__

Shut up, both of you. I won't telepath frivolous messages.

Aw, you're no fun…

Chris!! all three of us thought at once.

A few minutes later:

__

Chris? You there?

Yeah, Neil, go ahead.

I think I've spotted the security room. We're in luck, it's empty. Make a left turn at the end of the corridor and it's the second – no, third! – door on your right.

Confirm, third on right.

Confirmed, third on right.

OK. Let me know if I'm about to run into anyone.

Will do.

Chloe? Jacqueline asked. _What's happening?_

I'm ready. Here goes.

I couldn't take my eyes off my view of the inside of the facility, but from the front entrance I heard the sound of animals squabbling, and loud yelps and screeches. 

__

I can't see, I thought, _is it working?_

Better than I thought it would, Chloe replied, _the guards are leaving their posts to try and find out what's happening. I'll get the animals to lead them into the forest._

Good work, Jacqueline responded, _Chris, how's it going with the security?_

I've reached the security room. Unless their computers have a beast of a security protocol, it should be a breeze.

You might also want to deactivate the lock on that back door, I suggested.

__

Good catch, will do.

Ten minutes passed, then I heard Chris' voice in my head once more. The translation of his voice to a thought wave didn't dull the triumphant, self-satisfied tone that was beginning to get on my nerves.

__

Done! he exclaimed, _security cameras down, turrets down, electronic locks deactivated. Come on in._

On our way, said Jacqueline, _I'm going to stop relaying now, so you won't be able to talk to us again till we meet you in the security room. If anyone comes in, change to liquid and think a message to me. I'll read your mind periodically, just in case._

She exhaled deeply and opened her eyes, "Let's go."

We started on our way down the hill to meet Chloe.

"That felt _weird_," I said. "I'm glad to have my mind to myself again."

She grinned, "Yeah. I really don't like having to venture too far into the depths of an adolescent male mind. Incidentally, you are one of the most single-minded people I've ever met."

"Pardon?"

"I was trying to read your mind to get your messages, but all you were thinking about was Chloe."

"I like her."

"Yes, and she likes you. I hope it works out for you."

"Thanks."

"And Neil?"

"Yes?"

"There's something strange. I've read both Chris and Chloe's minds, and neither of them have been able to feel when I'm doing it. Both times I've been inside your mind, you've said it feels weird."

"That's right, it does."

"That's what's strange. You're not a telepath, so you shouldn't be able to detect when a telepath is in your mind. Added to that, when I dive into your mind there's this weird sort of _resistance_ I've never encountered before."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you might be a telepath yourself."

"How can I be? My mutation is in my eyes."

"It's possible that isn't your only mutation. I don't want to scare you, but – well, since I found out I was a telepath, I've been in and out of a lot of people's minds. They've all felt different, of course, but they've all felt perfectly human. Except Chris and Chloe, obviously, who are mutants. But you don't even feel like another mutant. You feel like…like something else."

"A mutant mutant?"

She laughed, "Possibly. Some day when we have a lot of free time – if we ever do – I'd like to sit down and try some exercises with you, and find out if you really are a telepath."

"Sure."

"There's Chloe. Let's go."

Chloe waved when she saw us, and pointed to the trees bordering the northern side of the facility, "The guards have all gone off to follow the animals. They'll be back soon, I think."

We hurried round the side of the building, past the deactivated cameras and turrets. I had a quick look through the wall to see if Chris was all right. He was sitting in the security room, keeping a careful eye on the door, ready to liquefy at any moment should a person enter the room. Suddenly – 

"What the _hell_?" I exclaimed.

"What?" asked Chloe.

"I was looking through the wall to check Chris was OK. As I was pulling my focus back, I saw somebody else."

"Who?"

"I dunno. I've never seen him before. But he was looking at me."

"Looking at you? So what?"

"Don't you get it? He was looking at me _through the wall_. He didn't just happen to be looking in my direction, either. He was definitely looking right at me."

"Oh no," Jacqueline said.

"Yes. If he could look through walls like me, he was a mutant too."

"Damn it, then they know we're here!" Chloe cried.

"We've got to get inside, and warn Chris," Jacqueline decided. "Hurry! Now!"


	7. The Twins

Chapter Five.

Breaking into a run, I led the way to the back door, hoping the lock was still deactivated. Pushing at the door, it opened easily, and I entered the facility.

__

Chris, I heard Jacqueline's voice in my head, _we're in trouble. Stay alert. There are other mutants in the building._

"I don't understand," said Chloe. "I thought Chris said this whole thing was set up by people who hate mutants. Why are there mutants here?"

"I don't know," I said. "There must be more to it than that. Come on, we've got to meet up with Chris. This way."

I turned right at the fork and headed down the corridor I remembered guiding Chris along to the security room.

"Somebody's coming," Jacqueline said suddenly. "Mutants. I can sense their presence."

"Is it Chris?" Chloe asked.

"No. Must be the guy Neil saw. Keep your eyes open."

Running down the corridor, we reached the third door on the right, with the words **Security Control** printed on it. I pushed it open, "Chris?"

There was nobody in the room. Five large computer terminals were dotted around the room with plain black swivel chairs in front of them. There were two filing cabinets against the far wall. Nothing else. Nowhere that Chris might be hidden. There were no others doors in the room that he might have gone through.

"Where is he?" asked Chloe. "I thought we told him to stay here."

"He may have changed to liquid," said Jacqueline.

__

Chris? she telepathed. No response. I focused beyond the wall to see through into the next room, in case Chris had gone in there to hide. No sign of him. I checked the corridor outside. Three men who weren't Chris were walking down the corridor towards the security room.

"They're coming this way," I said. "Three of them. I can't see Chris anywhere."

"Three of who?"

"I don't know. One of them is the guy who was looking at me through the wall."

"Can we make a run for it?" said Chloe.

"No, we'd have to get past them to get to the back door. Besides, we can't leave Chris. Jacqueline, what should we do?"

"I can't think of anything," she admitted. "Let's just see what these people want. If they are mutants, it's possible they could become sympathetic to our cause."

We backed away from the door as it opened. Three men stood in the doorway. The first was short and undeniably ugly, with lank, dirty hair, and a face that seemed to be permanently locked in an unpleasant sneer. He was the one who I had seen through the wall earlier. His eyes had gold pupils, the same as mine. I guessed he was about the same age as I was.

The second man looked something like the first, and I suspected they might have been identical twins before their mutations began to change their bodies. Everything that was bad about the first man seemed to have been corrected for the second. He was tall, probably good-looking (though I was no judge) and carried himself with a poise and grace that his slouching twin certainly didn't possess. He wore a lazy, sarcastic grin that reminded me of Chris.

The third man was older than the others, middle-aged with grey hair beginning to creep in at his temples. He was taller than either of the twins, and looked at me through a pair of startlingly bright blue eyes. His face was emotionless, and as he began to speak I detected an eastern European accent.

"We meet at last," he said, facing me.

The short, ugly twin looked up at him and hissed in a serpentine drawl, "Let me kill them now."

"Patience, Chameleon," the tall man replied. "In time."

He turned his attention back to us. "I regret to inform you that you are too late. It is already done."

I exchanged a glance with Jacqueline, who shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" she said.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I am referring to," the man said impatiently. "I know you have come here to stop me, but you have failed. I have all of the four now."

"What _are_ you talking about?" I asked, a confused look on my face. "What are 'the four'?"

"Oh, come on!" the man snapped. "You know perfectly well what I mean! You've come to interfere with my experiment!"

"What experiment?"

He looked at me suspiciously, then laughed, "You really _don't_ know what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, I don't."

His laughter increased in pitch and volume, "I suppose I should not be surprised. After all, what else could I have expected from a failed prototype like you?"

"What?" I responded in bewilderment. "What do you mean, a failed prototype like me?"

His face slipped back into an emotionless mask and he snapped in a cold voice, "Silence! I have no more time to waste with you. Inferno, Chameleon – kill them."

"Wait!" Jacqueline called, but the man had already turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him.

The three of us were left facing the mutant twins.

"Why do you want to kill us?" Chloe asked, sounding upset.

"'Why do you want to kill us?'" mocked the smaller twin, the one named Chameleon. "Pathetic."

He spat on to the floor and cast his gold-centred eyes at me, "You are just a prototype, you know that? A prototype for _me_."

"I don't understand," I said.

"No, but then you wouldn't," said the taller twin, Inferno, with undisguised sarcasm.

They were the first words I had heard him speak. His voice seemed richer and sounded better educated than that of his brother. Chameleon's voice was like that of a snake.

Inferno smirked and continued, "Although it is quite amusing to see you with that bewildered look on your face, I feel I should explain. You, like my brother and myself, were not born a mutant."

"Of course I was!" I snapped.

"No, you weren't. You were born normal, like anybody else. You were the first subject to undergo mutation implant treatment, sixteen years ago, when you were still a baby."

"This is nonsense," I said.

"Oh, it isn't, I assure you," said Inferno. "As Chameleon said, you were a prototype for further development of the treatment. The methods that gave you your mutations also weakened you beyond the point of being useful, so you were discarded and sent to live with your grandparents."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I've only got one mutation. And how have I been weakened?"

"Duh!" Chameleon said. "Are you stupid, or what? You can't even expose your eyes to light! That's your weakness! The treatment was improved before it was used on me. That's why I don't need those," he pointed at my sun-glasses.

Inferno said, "That's why we thought you knew what was going on here. We thought you must have figured out what had happened in your past, and had come here to stop the experimentation."

I looked at both of them. They sounded as if they believed what they were saying, but it couldn't possibly be true. I'd been born a mutant, that was all. Nothing sinister had happened.

Or had it? I had no way of knowing. Admittedly I had no idea how my parents had died. My grandparents had refused to speak on the subject. Had they died trying to protect me from being used in these experiments? I looked at Chloe, then at Jacqueline. Both of them looked as confused as I did.

"Prove it," I challenged.

Inferno snorted with laughter, "We don't have to prove it! I don't particularly care whether you believe me or not! You're going to be dead in less than ten minutes."

"But what's the point of the whole experiment? What was I used as a prototype _for_? What happened to you?"

"Mutation implant treatment," Inferno said. "Designed as a method to introduce mutant powers into the bodies of ordinary human beings. I had the treatment when I was three, so I don't remember much about it. As far as I know, the research was begun by a man – an ordinary human – who detested the fact that certain people – mutants – were seemingly randomly born with special powers."

"In other words, he was jealous," said Jacqueline. "He wanted to have mutant powers himself."

Chameleon glared at her. Inferno shrugged, "Possibly. He decided to develop a method of artificially bestowing mutant powers upon normal people."

"But spontaneous mutation is the whole point of evolution," said Chloe. "We can't take control of our own evolution."

"Listen to her," Chameleon mocked. "Who's swallowed a biology textbook, then?"

Inferno ignored both his brother and Chloe, and continued talking to me, "Before he was willing to perform the implantation therapy on himself, the researcher needed test subjects. You were the first."

"We were the second," said Chameleon.

"But why me?" I asked.

"_I _don't know!" said Inferno with mocking laughter. "I'm the same age as you, so I would have been a baby as well, when it happened to you."

I refused to believe it. I refused to believe that I had been an unknowing party to these experiments. The treatment itself sounded vaguely plausible – not that I knew anything about advanced genetics – but there was no way I could have been involved. It was one of those things that happened to other people.

But then, so was mutation.

"So this researcher who gave us the treatments," I said. "That's the guy who was just here with you a minute ago?"

"Yes. Which reminds me: we're supposed to be killing you, and we haven't done it yet."

Inferno stepped back to stand in front of the door and block our escape. Was it my imagination, or was a small puddle of water forming by Inferno's feet? Chameleon crouched slightly, and walked forward slowly towards us. We backed away.

"Now wait!" I said. "You haven't told me everything yet! I want to know more about the experiments!"

"You've wasted enough of our time already," the ugly twin hissed. "It's time I showed you why I'm known as Chameleon."

"I assumed it was because you look like one," came a sarcastic voice.

"Shut up, Inferno," Chameleon snarled.

"Ah, that wasn't me," Inferno said.

With my attention fully centred on Chameleon, watching him for any sign of attack, I hadn't even noticed the puddle at Inferno's feet re-coalescing into Chris. He now stood just behind Inferno, with his arm wrapped around the tall twin's neck, squeezing hard enough to make breathing difficult, but not hard enough to kill.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Chameleon snapped, turning to face Chris.

"Through the door. Just like anybody else," Chris said, flashing his cocky, annoying grin. "Of course, it's much easier when you can change into a liquid. You don't even have to open the door."

"You idiot, Chameleon! I told you there were four of them!" Inferno said angrily.

"Don't blame him, he probably can't count that far," said Chris, ignoring the furious look on Chameleon's face. "Now here's what you two are going to do, if you don't want me to snap your neck. First of all – hey, what the hell?"

Chameleon had disappeared. One second he had been standing equidistant between Inferno and myself, the next second he had vanished. Chloe gasped, "Where's he gone?"

My eyesight was good enough to make out the outline of the small twin, moving stealthily across the room towards Chris. 

"He's camouflaged himself!" I said. "He can make himself look like whatever he's standing in front of! That's why he's called Chameleon!"

"Oh, you _are_ fast," Inferno said sarcastically.

"Chris, look out! He's – "

Chris was taken completely unawares as Chameleon leapt from a standing position to deliver a devastating two-footed kick to Chris' mid-section. Giving a cry of pain and surprise, Chris crumpled to the floor, letting go of Inferno, holding his hands to his painful abdomen.

"Thanks, brother," said Inferno. "Now let's finish them."

He took a deep breath, and exhaled a ball of flame in my direction. I managed to duck to avoid it, but in doing so I lost sight of Chameleon, still in his camouflaged state. Inferno gave me a maddening, cocksure grin, and exhaled once more, this time a continuous stream of flame that leapt through the air and passed inches over my head.

"Now you know why they call _me_ Inferno!" he smirked.

"He can breathe fire!" Chloe screamed. "Jacqueline, what do we do?"

"Chloe, just get to safety!" I cried. "Get outside!"

Chloe couldn't contribute anything to the fight without any animals present, and I wanted her safe. She ducked underneath another fire ball from Inferno, and ran for the door. She was knocked off balance and thrown to one side as the near-invisible Chameleon slammed into her side. I saw red. Nobody was going to hurt Chloe, not while I was there to protect her.

With a speed and strength I didn't know I possessed, I drove straight towards Inferno and charged him to the ground. He inhaled deeply and prepared to breathe fire into my face, but I slammed my fist into his throat, making him cough and choke desperately for air. Seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, I was able to roll to the side and soften the blow that came from Chameleon. He clawed at my sun-glasses with his grubby, sweaty hands, realising my weakness. I kicked him in the side and got to my feet before he could recover. 

Inferno was still clutching at his throat and gasping for breath. Chris had risen to his knees, and was still holding on to his side. Chloe was on her feet, and darting for the door. Chameleon ran to intercept her, but I could still see his outline despite his camouflage, and tackled him to the ground. Inferno got to his feet and breathed fire directly at Chris' face. Jacqueline raised her hand and used her power to stop the flame before it could harm Chris. Chameleon pulled free of my grasp and ran towards Chloe. I stumbled after him, but Inferno chopped me in the back of the neck and I fell forward, on the brink of unconsciousness. Chameleon grabbed Chloe and flung her across the room, away from the door and away from safety.

Jacqueline stretched out her arm and sent one of the black swivel chairs crashing into the side of Inferno's head. The fire-breather cursed and turned a venomous glare on her. Chris swiped weakly with his fist at Chameleon's legs, but the reptilian mutant jumped over him, and, while in mid-air, delivered a spinning kick to my face that sent my sun-glasses flying off.

"Neil!" Chloe cried.

I shut my eyes before the light could burn into my retina, and instinctively dodged to one side, feeling the rush of air as Chameleon's fist went past me.

"Open your right hand!" Jacqueline exclaimed.

I didn't know if she was talking to me, but I opened my right hand anyway, guessing what she had in mind. Jacqueline used her telekinesis to return my sun-glasses to me, and I slipped them back over my eyes. I opened them and my sight was restored.

Chris had recovered partially and was fighting with Chameleon. What the smaller man possessed in natural agility, Chris countered with his knowledge of martial arts, but it was obvious that my friend was tiring more quickly. Turning around, I saw Jacqueline and Inferno, locked in a battle of wills, her using her power to hold back the intense stream of fire that was bursting from his mouth. She was weakening, I could see it. Her power had to be almost exhausted by now. Picking up the chair she'd used earlier, I threw it towards Inferno. Not waiting to see whether or not it hit (a cry of pain suggested it had), I turned to help Chris. He'd lost the fight with the reptilian and was lying off to one side. Chloe, though no match for Chameleon, had bravely, though briefly, challenged him. He kicked her in the chest and she hit the floor, not moving.

The red mist passed over me again. Nobody was going to hurt Chloe. Running across the room, I thrust my hands around Chameleon's neck and began choking him. He twisted and struggled, pulling me this way and that, but I kept my grip. He had moved about so much that he was now between me and Jacqueline. I noticed with dismay that the losing battle she had been fighting, had just been lost. Inferno tossed her aside, and moved to help his brother. Chameleon swiped at my sun-glasses, and I had to release one of my hands from his neck to stop him. He pulled free and kicked me to the floor. Tiredness swept over me, and, combined with the pain, just made me want to go to sleep. Chloe and Jacqueline were already lying unconscious, and Chris was dragging his weakened form towards Inferno as one last show of defiance. I tried to stand, but couldn't. I collapsed on to my back. Inferno and Chameleon walked towards me. It was over.

The explosion ripped the door from its hinges, and knocked Chameleon and Inferno to the floor. From the corridor outside I could make out two people hurrying into the room. The dust thrown up the explosion, along with my tiredness, meant I couldn't see anything else. I tried to sit up to get a better view, but my muscles weren't having any of it. I had one last view of the room, and somebody standing over me – a man wearing a red visor – then unconsciousness claimed me. 

A/N: OK, that was an action-heavy chapter! Apologies if it sucked, but I love mutant-v-mutant battles and I wanted to play with some new characters. Chameleon and Inferno are my own creations and are not intended to bear any resemblance to any other characters who have ever gone by that name. Please review to tell me what you think of them, as well as any other aspect of the story. :-)


	8. The Truth

Chapter Six: The Truth

Of all the places I might have woken up, a comfortable bed with sheets hadn't been high on my list of probabilities. Where on Earth was I? I opened my eyes to find out, then realised I didn't have my sun-glasses on. Then I realised I couldn't see anything anyway. Something was over my eyes. I raised my left hand to remove the obstruction, but I felt somebody take hold of my hand and a gentle, soothing female voice said, "Relax. You need to wear the eye-patches for a little longer. Don't worry, you're among friends."

I didn't recognise her voice.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Where am I?"

"My name is Dr Jean Grey. You're in New York."

"New York? _America_?! How did I – when did I – ?"

"Sshh…just relax. You need some more rest. Don't worry, we'll explain everything later, when you've recovered."

A thought struck me, "My friends? Are they all right?"

"They're fine. Your friend Jacqueline has some nasty burns, but they're superficial. She's healing as we speak. Chris is pretty badly beat up, but nothing that a little rest won't cure. As for Chloe, she's fine. Just tired. And worried about you."

"Can I see her?"

"In a little while, when your eyes recover."

"What's wrong with my eyes? Why do I have these patches over them?"

The doctor hesitated, then said, "While you were asleep, I took the liberty of performing a few scans and tests. I discovered that the mutation that has gifted you your extraordinary eyesight, has also weakened both your retina and your optic nerves to the point that – well, to be blunt, any prolonged exposure to light would have caused irreparable damage and made you go blind."

"Blind?"

"Yes. I've administered some special eye-drops that should help to strengthen your ocular system. Light will still hurt you, but it won't cause any lasting damage, and it won't be anywhere near as painful as it was before. You need to keep those patches on until the eye-drops have finished their work."

I couldn't see anything through the thick material of the eye-patches, and I was intrigued to find out whether what she was saying was correct. Ever since I was eight years old, I'd had to keep my eyes permanently shaded from light to avoid the pain it would cause. Was that time at an end?

Then something else occurred to me, "Those guys – Chameleon and Inferno – they told me I was a prototype for some sort of…experimental treatment. Was that true? Please tell me it wasn't true."

"I can't tell you anything about that right now. Just get some rest. When you're recovered, you can talk to the Professor about it. He'll answer your questions."

Tiredness overtook me again, and I rested my head back on the pillow. Things were moving so fast now, I had no idea what was going on. What was I doing in America? Who were these people? Had Inferno and his brother been telling the truth? No, they had to have been lying. But why would they lie about it? What would that accomplish? I didn't know, and I was too tired to want to think about it any more. I drifted off to sleep again.

When I next awoke, the eye-patches were gone, and I tentatively opened my eyes. As the light from the room flooded into my retina, I winced slightly. It still hurt. The pain was still there, but it was bearable. More of a dull ache, like a headache, than the agonising burning sensation I'd experienced before. It seemed as if the doctor had been right. I looked around the room: an infirmary of some kind. There was nobody else in the room with me. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. My legs were still a little tired and stiff, and I swayed slightly while finding my balance. I looked around for my sun-glasses. There they were, sitting on the small table beside the bed. I picked them up and was about to slip them over my eyes, when indecision struck. Did I really want to put them on? My eyes still hurt, but I could stand it. In time, I could probably train myself to ignore it. I decided that, for once, I would forget the sun-glasses. I wanted to see the world as it was.

I heard a sound from the doorway and turned to see a man in a wheelchair, smiling at me as he entered the room. He was entirely bald, and, although he was clearly an old man, his face and his eyes possessed a youthful energy that made him appear much younger than he really was.

"How are you feeling?" he said.

His voice sounded strangely familiar, as if I'd heard it before, a long time ago. But I'd never met this man before today.

"OK…I think," I said. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"My name is Professor Charles Xavier. You're in my school for mutants, in Westchester, New York."

"There's a school for mutants?"

"Yes. Neil, I'm afraid I have some rather bad news for you."

I frowned, "What?"

"I'd rather wait until we are all together before I discuss the matter further," the man said. "Now, I realise you must be feeling a bit confused and uncertain, and you probably don't trust us yet."

"Well, your doctor did help with my eyes. But I don't know who to trust any more. Everything's being turned upside down and back to front and I don't know what's happening. All that I can be sure of are my three friends. Where are they?"

"Your friends are upstairs, with the other teenagers in the school. They're all fine, but they're worried about you. Can I suggest you go up to reassure them?"

"How do I find them?"

"Follow me."

He turned and his wheelchair headed for the door. I followed him out into the corridor, and looked around.

"This doesn't look much like a school," I said, confused. "It looks more like a secret base, or something."

Xavier smiled, "Yes, that's exactly what it is. The schoolrooms are located on the upper levels. The lower levels house the headquarters of my organisation known as the X-Men."

"The X-Men?"

"Yes. We're all mutants here, Neil. While some mutants believe that we cannot co-exist with humans, it is my goal to unite mutantkind and humanity in peace and fellowship. But I won't bore you with details just now. First things first."

He led me to an elevator, which ascended swiftly and smoothly to the upper levels.

"Ah, _this_ looks more like a school," I said, as we stepped out into a wooden-panelled hallway.

"Yes, this is the main body of the school building," said Xavier. "Now, please excuse me. I must talk with Dr Grey and some of my other associates. Your friends are in the dining room, up those stairs to the left."

"OK. Thanks."

I headed for the staircase, and turned to see him wheeling his way round the corner, then disappearing from sight. Climbing the stairs, I heard the sound of voices from a doorway on the right, and walked through into the dining room. The room was occupied by a group of teenagers, about two dozen, sitting at tables or on the floor, eating, talking, laughing. A few people looked round as I entered, Chloe among them.

"Neil!" she exclaimed, getting out of her seat and running over to greet me.

"Hey, Chloe."

"I was worried about you! The doctor said I couldn't see you until you had recovered! What was the matter with you?"

"Oh…nothing, really."

Then she gave me a strange look, "Hey – you haven't got your shades on."

"Yeah. I don't need them so much now. The doctor fixed my eyes, well, sort of."

By this time Chris and Jacqueline had got up and walked over to greet me.

"Looks like I can't call you Shades any more," Chris grinned, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I overheard the doctor saying she was going to treat your eyes. It's good to see you on your feet again."

"Welcome back," said Jacqueline.

I smiled. Chloe took my hand and led me to the table where she had been sitting. I was introduced to several people, but my mind was in such a turmoil that I forgot their names instantly. They were all mutants, some of them more visibly obvious than others, and they all greeted me with a warmth and friendliness that I hadn't known for years. There was no bigotry or discrimination here. Chloe was talking to a girl about the same age as Jacqueline, with a white streak in her hair, and was obviously trying to include me in the conversation, but I wasn't in the mood to talk. I smiled and nodded, and laughed at appropriate points, but I couldn't make myself concentrate on what they were talking about. I wanted to find about my past. Was I part of an experiment, as Inferno had said? I needed to find out. The Professor guy had promised to talk to me later about something. I wondered if this was the bad news he had mentioned.

Food was put in front of me, and I ate it without thinking or tasting it. At one of the other tables, Chris was flashing his trademark cocky grin and clearly winding up an increasingly annoyed-looking boy who was playing absent-mindedly with a cigarette lighter, flicking it on and off alternately. Jacqueline stood by the window, not talking to anybody, gazing out at the early evening sun. She looked distant and uncomfortable, and I realised I wasn't the only one with a troubled past. I couldn't even begin to imagine what Jacqueline must have gone through as a seven-year-old: being told her parents no longer loved her, and being sent to live with an adoptive family. Since our escape and during our journey to the facility, she'd shown one or two very small glimpses of what must be going on inside her head, but most of the time she kept it hidden behind her emotionless exterior. Perhaps I wasn't the only one who needed help from the Professor and his friends.

Just as I was thinking about the Professor, a man entered the dining room. I recognised him from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Then it came to me. The man with the red visor, the man I'd seen in the facility after the battle with Chameleon and Inferno, just before I'd blacked out. He was now wearing a pair of red sun-glasses instead, and my hand instinctively travelled to my face where my own sun-glasses normally were, but of course, I wasn't wearing them any more.

"Hey, Cyclops," one or two voices greeted the man as he walked over towards me.

Cyclops? That was an odd name. He smiled in return to the greetings and said, "Neil? The Professor would like to see you and your friends."

Chloe and I stood up, and waited until Jacqueline and Chris joined us. Then we followed the man out of the room and down the stairs, turning the corner I had seen the Professor taking earlier.

"Are you the guy I saw in that secret facility?" I asked eventually.

Cyclops nodded, "Yes. The Professor sent us to bring you back here."

"How did he know we were there?" Chloe asked.

"The Professor's a telepath. He can sense mutants with his thoughts. He saw you were in danger."

"Yeah, well, thanks," Chris said. "For getting us out of there alive, I mean."

"No problem."

"Did you kill those guys? Inferno and Chameleon?"

"No. They got away," said Cyclops. "Our priority was getting you to safety."

He stopped in front of a door on the right and pushed it open. Inside, seated round a table, were three people: Professor Xavier; a brown-haired woman; and a woman with white hair and dark skin.

"Ah, you're here," said Xavier. "Thank you, Scott. Please, sit down, all of you."

Chris regarded the four adults warily, and took the seat nearest the door. I sat down opposite Cyclops, and Chloe took the seat beside me. Jacqueline sat next to Chris.

Xavier continued, "Now, you all know who I am, but for those of you who _haven't_ met – Chris Garcia, Chloe Scott, Jacqueline Cartier and Neil Rosiçky, meet Scott Summers, Ororo Munroe and Dr Jean Grey."

Chloe smiled. Chris gave a half-hearted sort of wave. Jacqueline made no response whatsoever and I merely regarded the three people I had just been introduced to. So the dark-haired woman was Dr Grey – it was good to be able to put a face to a person I only knew by her voice.

"First of all," said Xavier. "Neil, a lot of what I am going to talk about involves you personally. If you'd rather we discuss it alone, just say."

"No, I don't mind," I said. "I have no secrets from my friends."

"All right, then I'll begin. There is no easy way to break this to you, so I'm just going to come right out and say it. What Chameleon and Inferno told you, about you being part of this genetic experiment – I'm afraid it's true."

My heart sank. I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it.

"How do you know?" I heard myself asking.

"That will require a bit of explaining," he answered. "It all started twenty years ago, when I was working as a researcher at Oxford University. I met a young man who was doing incredibly advanced work on mutant genetics. Not a mutant himself, he was convinced that the process which grants mutations to unborn babies could be replicated on ordinary humans. He planned an experiment and applied to the university for funding. They refused, on humanitarian grounds. The reason being that his experiment could only be conducted on new-born children, and the university quite rightly refused to allow him to do so."

"So what happened?" I asked.

"He left the university to look for an alternative source of funding, and obviously found it, but I don't know where from. It probably isn't important. Anyway, he was still faced with the problem that his procedure could only be tested on a new-born baby, and naturally there was nobody willing to donate their child. He was ready to give up, when he discovered his wife was pregnant."

"He used his own child?!" Cyclops exclaimed.

"Yes. His wife died in childbirth, leaving him as the sole guardian of the baby. He had put his entire life into his research; his family were now only of secondary importance to him. It was sixteen years ago when he conducted the experiment on his new-born child."

Ororo winced. Xavier looked down at the table and sighed, "The man's name was Davor Rosiçky."

My heart plummeted like a stone.

"That's not possible," I heard myself saying. "My father died when I was a baby."

Xavier shook his head, "When your father saw that his experiment did not give the results he was hoping for, he tried to kill you. I managed to stop him, and sent you to live with your maternal grandparents. To protect you from your past, I asked them to tell you he was dead."

"I thought I recognised your voice from somewhere," I said. "I must have heard it back then, when you found me."

Then I lowered my head and sighed, "Please, tell me this isn't true. Please tell me I'm dreaming and I'm going to wake up in a minute."

"I'm sorry," said Xavier. "I told you it wasn't going to be easy for you to hear, but you have to know."

"So Rosiçky continued with his experimentation?" asked Dr Grey.

"Yes. He learned enough from his first experiment to upgrade the procedure, so that it would work on slightly older children. He took four new subjects – why he chose those particular ones, and how he got hold of them, I don't know – and performed the procedure on them."

"Chameleon and Inferno?" Jacqueline guessed. "Who are the other two?"

"I'm not sure," Xavier sighed. "It was thirteen years since I last saw them. The children were all aged between two and four, so they'll be roughly your age by now. Anyway, I was again able to intervene, and I took the children from his custody, and sent them back to live with their families. I thought they'd be safe."

"They weren't?" asked Ororo.

Xavier sighed once more, "Unfortunately, the procedure did more than just introduce mutant powers into their bodies. It warped their minds, altered their personalities. It changed four innocent children into the cold-blooded killers that they are today. I didn't realise this until it was too late. Rosiçky is now a very powerful and influential man and he has connections with several politicians in the Scottish government."

I saw what was coming, "The Mutant Registration Act was his idea?" 

"Yes. He was determined to track down his four subjects, but he had no idea where to look. He decided to enforce mutant registration so that he could find out where they lived, and summon them to him. What he didn't count on was finding out that his own son was still alive. I'd fooled him into thinking he had succeeded in killing you."

"So that's why we were grabbed from school."

"That's right. I've been keeping an eye on his activities ever since the Act was pushed through. The four subjects have joined up with him, and he tried to grab you too, to make sure you were finished off this time. When I saw you approaching his facility in the Highlands – that was both incredibly brave and incredibly foolish, by the way – I sent Scott and Ororo to get you away from him."

"We didn't know what we were walking in on," I admitted. "Until I ran into Inferno and Chameleon, I didn't know any of this. I thought I was just an ordinary person. Well, an ordinary mutant."

"I see," said Xavier. "To finish my story: seven years ago, Davor Rosiçky – your father – was at last able to perfect his procedure to work on adult humans. He used it on himself."

"He's a mutant now?"

"Yes, and a very powerful one. I don't know what his plans are exactly, but he and the four others have to be stopped."

"Easier said than done," Chris put in. "I've never met anyone who could fight like Chameleon."

"What do you intend to do about it?" Jacqueline asked, looking at the Professor.

"I honestly don't know right now," the old man sighed. "Unfortunately, there are other problems which require my attention. There are other dangerous people, both mutants and humans, in the world. Any number of things could happen, and I'm waiting for Rosiçky to make the first move before I try to move in on him again."

"Is he still in that facility?" asked Chris.

"No, he abandoned that as soon as we left," said Cyclops. "We've been trying to track him. We think he's headed here, to America."

"When Logan returns from Alkali lake, I'll ask him to have a look into it," said Xavier. "Jean, when did he say he'd be back?"

"Probably some time next week," she said.

"Very well," Xavier said. "In the meantime, you four are welcome to stay here and live with the other teenagers. Neil, I promise you, we will get to the bottom of this, but it may take some time."

Later that night we were invited to join the other teens in the games room. This was a comfortable, spacious room with a wide-screen TV, several units for games such as table tennis, and about ten computer games terminals. I could probably have spent the evening happily here, in the company of my friends, if it hadn't been for the pressing weight upon my mind. The Professor had confirmed my fears that what the twins had told me was true, and I was still struggling to come to terms with the enormity of it all. My father – the father I'd never known – had become so obsessed with his work that he had tried to kill me. I had been born an ordinary human, and my father's genetic experimentation had changed me into something I wasn't meant to be, given me gifts and abilities that I was never meant to have. What did it all mean? I couldn't make any sense of it. I needed to be alone. I couldn't think straight while I was surrounded by the noise and activities of so many others. Slipping through the crowd, I made my way to the door undetected, and left.

It took me a couple of minutes to find a door that led outside the building, and I walked out into one of the gardens of Xavier's estate. The sun had set and darkness was falling. I wondered what time it was back home. I couldn't even remember if New York was on the east or west coast of America. Finding a wooden bench beside a row of shrubs, I sat down and was glad of the darkness. It meant the pain in my eyes was lessened. I leaned back on the wooden seat and thought hard about myself. I knew I was nothing more than an experimental guinea pig, used as such by my own father. What made a man become so overpowered by a dream that he would risk sacrificing his own family? 

Overcome with sadness, I closed my eyes and wanted to cry. I knew the tears would never come. My mutated eyes could no longer cry tears. One of the most basic human emotional reactions, and I was incapable of it. Maybe it would have been better if Inferno or Chameleon _had _killed me. Then I wouldn't be sitting here, wishing I wasn't what I had been made into.

"Neil?"

I was so deep in my depression that I hadn't heard her approach. Chloe sat down on the bench beside me and said, "Are you all right?"

I shrugged. There was nothing to say. Chloe moved closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She didn't try to talk to me. I felt glad of her even if she wasn't saying anything; just her presence made me feel better. 

"It's a beautiful night," she said, trying to start a conversation. "Look, the stars are out."

I sighed and stared at the ground, "Chloe, what are you doing out here? You should be inside with the others, enjoying yourself. Why are you wasting your time with me?"

"Wasting my time?"

"I'm nothing. I'm not human any more and I was never meant to be a mutant. I'm halfway in between, just a freak. I've got nothing to live for. I'm not worth your time."

"Don't say that."

"It's true. You heard what the Professor said, what Inferno said. I was an unsuccessful prototype. I'm nothing but a failed version of Chameleon."

Chloe was angry now, "You are _not_! You are so much more than that slimy little creep! You're a good, kind person, which is more than he'll ever be!"

"He's what I was meant to become. He's me without the mistakes thrown in."

"No, he isn't. You've got one thing that he hasn't got, that he'll never have."

"What's that?"

"Me."

She put her hand on my cheek, turned my head gently towards her, and planted a little kiss on my lips. Shock, combined with intense joy, began a small rebellion against the depression that was engulfing my heart. Chloe had her arms around my neck and pulled me close to kiss me again. The rebellion was spreading, picking up support as it went. By the time I had my arms round Chloe, and we were drawing together for our third kiss, the rebellion had won. My mind and heart were overwhelmed with passion, and I forgot that I was supposed to be miserable and deprecating myself. The third kiss lasted far longer than the first two, and when we at last drew apart, I gazed into Chloe's chestnut brown eyes and gave her a little smile, "I guess I was wrong. I do have something to live for."

She smiled in return and we came together for our fourth kiss.


	9. Friend or Foe?

Chapter Seven: Friend or Foe?

We spent the next week at Xavier's mansion, and for me it was seven days that passed in a whirlwind of carefree happiness. After finding out the truth about myself from the Professor, I'd been convinced I was a freak and that my life was worth nothing. Chloe had thought differently. She still liked – no, _loved_ – me in spite of what I was, and that was the only thing that was keeping me going. Unlike Claire, who'd left me when she discovered I was a mutant, Chloe didn't care what I was, only who I was. The two of us were now spending nearly all our time together, or with the new friends she had made. The other kids at the school had never been to Scotland and were interested to find out what it was like there. Chloe, who had managed to keep her mutation a secret throughout her early years, had never been ostracised at school, and as such found it a lot easier than me to talk to people and make friends. She had become particularly close to a girl named Marie, the girl with the strange white streak in her hair.

Jacqueline remained as cold and distant as ever, but she wasn't unhappy. I discovered she was taking lessons from the Professor, who was teaching her how to conserve her telepathic power and use it more efficiently. She was glad to be able to develop her powers further, as well as having the opportunity to learn from someone who was clearly one of the most powerful telepaths in the world. She made no efforts to get to know anyone, but was content to sit with Chloe, or myself, or Chris, and listen to the conversations going on around her. It was obvious that she was still troubled, and there was still a deep wound on her psyche, but hopefully the Professor could help her in that respect.

The only one of us who was clearly not happy was Chris. He wasn't being his usual talkative, sarcastic self, and on several occasions I'd seen him skulking around the mansion, looking angry. While I was wondering what was wrong with him, I knew I wouldn't be the one to ask him. Although Chris and I were friends, we weren't that close. I was relying on Jacqueline or Chloe to talk to him about it, but Chloe only wanted to spend her time with me, and Jacqueline wasn't talking to anyone.

The Professor had spoken at length to me on the subject of my mutations. He'd told me that as a result of the experimentation, it was likely that I possessed other mutations, apart from the one in my eyes, and he reckoned telepathy would almost certainly be one of them. Jacqueline had said to me that I might be a telepath – it looked as if she was right. I'd asked the Professor what other gifts I might unknowingly possess, but he had no way of knowing. They'd reveal themselves in time, most likely during periods of desperation or stress, he had said. I was determined to find out what my other mutations were; I wanted to know the full extent of what my father had done to me.

It wasn't until the end of the week that I discovered what was eating at Chris. That day Chloe and I were in the dining room eating lunch, sitting with Marie and her boyfriend Bobby, idly talking about this and that, when Marie said, "I wonder what's wrong with your friend Chris. He hasn't been winding up John at all recently."

I glanced across the room to where Chris was locked in conversation with John, the boy with the cigarette lighter. Chris wasn't wearing his trademark grin, and John was looking a little less pissed off with him than normal.

"I dunno, he's been acting weird," said Chloe. "Ever since we got here, he's been different."

"Could be culture shock, I suppose," I said. "He's not from a well-off background. This mansion and the facilities it has might just be too much for him."

"Yeah. Some people take a while to settle in here," Bobby agreed.

At that moment I saw Chris stand up, and walk over to where we were sitting. He leaned over the table and said, "Neil, Chloe, can we talk?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"No, I mean in private."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh, OK. Now?"

"Yeah. Wait a second until I get Jacqueline."

Jacqueline was at one of the other tables, eating alone as usual, and looked up when Chris tapped her on the shoulder and asked her the same question.

"I guess we'll see you later," said Chloe to Marie, as we stood up to follow Chris.

He headed out of the dining room and looked around, "Let's go outside where no-one will overhear us."

The four of us went out into the garden, and he took us far enough away from the building that we could be sure we were alone.

"So what's up?" I asked. "Why have you been looking so pissed off recently?"

"It's hard to explain," said Chris. "But frankly, I don't trust these people."

"You don't?" asked Chloe in disbelief. "But they saved our lives! Didn't they?"

"They did. And rather too conveniently, if you ask me."

Jacqueline frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean think about it," said Chris. "We're seconds away from being killed by Chameleon and Inferno, and suddenly this seemingly all-powerful group of mutants, who we've _never_ heard of, shows up to rescue us."

"That's what happened. What's wrong with that?"

"A few things. First of all, how'd they know where we were? I don't believe that this Professor guy is powerful enough to sense mutants from halfway across the world. Secondly, there's a lot more to this whole set-up than just being a school for mutants. Thirdly, if they're such kind-hearted individuals, why all the secrecy? Why have we never heard of them before? Call me cynical if you like, but I think it stinks."

"Well, I can answer your first point," said Jacqueline. "The Professor has a device, he calls it Cerebro, which he uses to amplify his powers and track mutants all over the world. He's shown it to me, but I haven't used it. I'm not powerful enough yet."

"Huh. Or that's just an excuse for not letting you play with his little toy."

"And I can answer the second point," I said. "There _is_ more to this place than just a school. The underground levels are the HQ for the Professor's group called the X-Men."

"I know about that," Chris snapped. "What I meant was, this isn't a school. It's a training facility. I've been talking to John a lot, and I've overheard other people talking. There's some sort of war brewing, a war between humans and mutants."

"So?"

"Isn't it _obvious_?" Chris said impatiently. "Xavier's using this place to train an army of mutants to help him fight this war! We're not here for our own benefit, we're here for his! Do you really think he's just a kind-hearted old guy who genuinely cares about young mutants like us?"

"Yes, I do," said Chloe. "There _are_ good people in the world, believe it or not."

"Yes, but they're usually not fabulously rich. I've had a good look around this place and it must be costing Xavier a _fortune_. Now why's he doing that? What's in it for him? Either he's a good person, which I doubt, because almost nobody is, and most good people are usually poor, _or_ he's training and indoctrinating us to help him win this war."

"But the Professor said he wanted to unite humanity and mutants," said Chloe.

Chris rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right. Ever since I was a kid, even when I didn't know I _was_ a mutant, all I've seen is people's hatred for our kind. Xavier's a fool if he thinks humans and mutants can live together in harmony. Cyclops and the others are fools for following him. It's an act, it's all a front. They don't like humans any more than John or I do."

I frowned, and looked at Chloe, then at Jacqueline. The three of us had fully trusted the Professor and his friends so far, but Chris had just sown the first seeds of doubt in our minds. It was hard not to listen to Chris; he had a certain sort of charisma that made you pay attention and take in what he was saying. Although I still trusted the Professor and the other X-Men…I did see the sense in what Chris was saying. From my experience, I too would have deemed it impossible to get humans and mutants to like each other. _Could_ there be something else behind this whole thing?

"Chris, don't you trust _any_one?" I said.

"I don't trust people easily. I trust the three of you. Maybe I'm wrong, and Xavier and his people are what they say they are, but I'm not willing to take the risk. I'm getting out of here."

"You're leaving?" Jacqueline asked in surprise. "Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know. I want to track down Chameleon and Inferno. I've still got a score to settle with them."

"You can't defeat them on your own," I said.

"I know. That's why I asked to talk to all of you just now. I want you to come with me."

"But we're happy here," Chloe said. "I've made so many friends, I don't want to leave them so soon."

Chris looked at Jacqueline, "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," she sighed. "You're right about the war, it is coming. I've been diving in and out of people's minds to practice my powers, and a lot of them are worried about it."

"Neil?"

"Well, like Chloe, I'm happy here. But I do want to go after my father and the others, and settle things with them. Maybe I'll die trying, but at least I won't have sat back and accepted what my father has done to me."

Chris said, "Jacqueline, I had a thought. Can't you read the minds of Xavier and his people to see if they're telling the truth?"

"No," said Jacqueline. "The Professor is way too powerful for me to read his mind without him knowing about it. Dr Grey, she's also a telepath, and also far more powerful than I am."

"What about the other two? Cyclops and Storm?"

"I don't know. I know they're not telepaths, but I've never had the opportunity to delve into either of their minds. The Professor or Dr Grey always seem to be with them. They'd know instantly if I tried it. If they are trying to cover something up, like you say, they'd realise I was on to them. I don't know what they'd do."

There was silence for a few moments. Then Chris said, "So who's with me?"

"I would come with you," Jacqueline said. "But we haven't got a clue where Chameleon or Inferno or the other three are."

"Use Xavier's machine to find out," Chris suggested. "The Cerebro thingy."

"No way! There's no way we could get away with that!" Jacqueline exclaimed. "The Professor can sense where every mutant in the mansion is at all times! If we tried to enter his machine, he'd know about it in a second!"

"We'll do it at night. He's got to go to sleep at some point."

"Still wouldn't work. The door to the machine can only be opened by the Professor's retinal scan."

Chris grinned, "Jacqueline, you know me and doors. I have a tendency to ignore them."

"Well," I said. "If we _can_ find out where my father and his mutants are, I'm willing to go with you. I don't want to leave here, and I do trust Xavier, but I can't just sit around doing nothing. Chloe, what about you?"

"I don't want to leave Marie or Bobby or John after I've just got to know them," she sighed. "But I'd rather be away from them than away from you. I'll come."

Chris' grin spread even wider, "All right, then. We'll do it tonight."

We had been given a room to ourselves, where we slept and stored our few belongings. It was here that we were lying awake in the early hours of the morning, while I used my X-ray vision to look into the Professor's room.

"Is he asleep yet?" Chris yawned.

I shook my head, "No, he's still lying in bed reading."

"5am. Doesn't the man _ever_ sleep?" Chris demanded.

Chloe, unable to stay awake, had dropped off a couple of minutes ago and was snoring gently on her bed, next to mine. I decided just to let her sleep until it was time to move. Jacqueline was sitting in the corner, ignoring Chris' complaints, practising using her telekinetic powers by raising and lowering a book through the air, turning it through different angles, and holding it dead still in mid-air.

"Can you train it to bring you the newspaper and your slippers?" Chris asked sarcastically.

She ignored him again. Chloe murmured and turned over in her sleep. I could see the Professor putting his book aside, turning off the light, and settling down in bed.

"Right, he's going to sleep," I said.

"OK. We'll give him five or ten minutes to drop off, then we'll head down," said Chris. "Better wake her up."

I gave Chloe a gentle shake to rouse her. Jacqueline laid the book down on the table and stood up. She glanced at me and I knew what she was thinking. Somehow, at some point, Chris had taken over leadership of the group. Jacqueline had led us up until this point, but she clearly felt uncomfortable and out of place among too many people. Chris, driven by his suspicions and his doubts, was the natural choice to take over.

Ten minutes, we left the room, and headed down two flights of staircases as quietly as we could to the ground floor. From there it was a short walk along the corridor until we reached the elevator. It descended as smoothly and silently as we had hoped, and soon we were standing in the X-Men's headquarters.

"Which way to this machine?" Chris asked.

Jacqueline pointed left, "This way. Follow me."

We turned left and walked down a long, straight corridor to a huge, circular door at the end.

"This would be it, then?" said Chris.

"That's right. Do your stuff."

He flashed his grin and melted into his liquid state. We watched as he flowed across the floor to the door, and waited for him to enter the room. Two minutes passed.

"It's not working," I said.

"The door must be air-tight," Jacqueline said. "Even as a liquid, he can't get through."

The puddle on the floor solidified into an angry-looking Chris, "Damn it! There's no way in! The door's completely sealed."

"Does that mean we can't get in?" asked Chloe.

"There'll be a way. There's always a way," Chris snapped, impatient and annoyed that things weren't going according to his plan.

"I can't think of anything," I said.

"Wait, I've got it!" Chris exclaimed. "There's no way to open it from out here, but there must be a switch or something inside, in case you get locked in by accident. Neil, you look through the door to find the switch. Jacqueline, read his mind so you can see the switch, then use your power to move it."

"That seems a little easy. That means any telepath could open it," Chloe said.

Jacqueline shook her head, "No. I can't move the switch if I don't know where it is. I need Neil's vision."

"All right, Neil, do it," said Chris.

I focused beyond the door and looked around the room inside, "Wow."

"What?"

"It's huge. Jacqueline, are you getting this?"

__

Yes. _I see the switch_.

"Do you? I can't."

__

It's by the door.

"Oh, yeah. I see it."

__

Here goes.

There was a click, then a hissing sound, and the door opened. Chris gave his annoying grin, "We're in! All right, Jacqueline, how does it work?"

"The helmet at the desk. I'll need to put it on. Chris, I'm not sure I should be doing this. If the Professor was right, and I'm not powerful enough, it might – actually, I don't know what damage it might do. It could destroy my brain for all I know."

"You'll be fine. If it looks like it's doing any damage, I'll pull the helmet off."

"OK…" she said, not sounding confident. "Here we go."

She knelt in front of the device; it was obviously configured to the height of the wheelchair-bound Professor. Placing the helmet on her head, Jacqueline screwed up her face in concentration, and sought out my father and the twins. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then pain began to appear on her face.

"Should we take it off?" I asked.

Chris shook is head, "Not yet. If it gets any worse, we'll – "

Suddenly Jacqueline screamed, an ear-splitting shriek that rebounded around the huge spherical room in a deafening echo. Chloe and I covered our ears, and Chris pulled the helmet away from Jacqueline.

"Damn it, the whole _building_ probably heard that," he said. "Jacqueline? Are you all right?"

She didn't respond, or even move.

"Is she – dead?" Chloe gasped.

Chris put his hand to her neck, "She has a pulse, so she's alive. Must be unconscious."

"Somebody must have heard that. They'll be looking for us. We'd better run for it," I said.

"Right," Chris agreed. "Xavier will _kill_ us if he finds out what we've done. Quick, we need to get to the elevator."

He and I picked up Jacqueline and carried her unconscious figure between us. Chloe ran to the elevator to wait for us. Back up to the ground floor, where we could hear the sound of voices, and people moving around upstairs.

"They heard," Chris confirmed. "All right, here's what we'll do. Chloe, get outside and organise a distraction. Birds dancing, crickets singing, anything. Just get Xavier's attention away from us. Neil, you look through the walls and find an escape route. I'll carry Jacqueline. We're just going to have to make a run for it."

We nodded our agreement, and Chloe hurried off to the door that led outside. Jacqueline was small for her age, and Chris was able to carry her in his arms fairly easily. I scanned the building to see if anyone was coming.

"People are coming down from the second floor," I said. "We'd better keep away from the staircase. We'll need to find another way outside. Somebody will see us if we go the way Chloe just did."

"Isn't there a back door to this place?" he grumbled.

"I don't know. I'll keep looking. Uh-oh, look out!"

I grabbed his arm, and dragged them into a nearby closet.

"What did you see?"

"Storm and Cyclops are coming. Keep quiet."

I focused beyond the closet door to see the corridor outside. Cyclops and Storm were walking past, heading for the elevator.

"What happened?" Storm was saying.

"I'm not sure. The Professor said somebody was trying to break into Cerebro."

She raised her eyebrows, "Do you think it could be Mystique? She's still at large, and she's done it before."

"I don't know. Whoever it is…" I lost the rest of what he said as they walked into the elevator.

Pushing open the closet door, I led Chris outside.

"She waking up yet?"

"No," he said. "She's hardly breathing."

"Really? Maybe we should just give ourselves up to Xavier and take her down to the infirmary."

"No, I don't trust them. We can't take the risk. Have you found a back door yet?"

"I think so. This way."

We hurried down the corridor. Both of us turned with sinking hearts at the sound of running footsteps behind us, but it was Chloe. Racing towards us, she panted, "It's done. Every animal I could find. Where are we going?"

"Neil reckons he's found the back door. We'll head off the beaten track and into the forest. With luck, we can get far enough away before they realise what happened."

We ran through the mansion until we got to the back door, and out into the garden. From the front of the building I could hear some sort of disturbance, presumably the distraction Chloe had caused. Without looking back, we fled across the garden and into the forest that surrounded the estate. As we went, I realised I'd left my sun-glasses behind. I hoped I wouldn't need them.

After we had been running for what seemed like hours, but was probably more like fifteen or twenty minutes, Chris called, "Hold up, you guys. I can't carry her any longer. We should be far enough from the mansion to avoid detection. Let's rest for a bit."

He sank down on to the earthy ground and laid Jacqueline down on her back. She remained out cold. Was it my imagination or did her face look paler than normal?

"What did that machine do to her?" asked Chloe. "She looks bad."

"I think it was a lot more than just being knocked out," said Chris, leaning over Jacqueline to measure her pulse. "It's as if – well, it's like her body's here, but her mind's somewhere else. This is still her body but she's not in it any more. I don't know if that makes any sense."

"Sort of," I said. "Using the machine was obviously too much for her."

"Is she going to wake up?" asked Chloe.

"I can't tell," said Chris. "If only we could get inside her head and see exactly what damage has been done. If she's really severely injured – physically or mentally – we _will_ have to swallow our pride and go back to Xavier's."

"But how can we get inside her head? None of us are telepathic," said Chloe.

I coughed, "Actually – I might be."

"You what?"

"The Professor reckons I have other gifts, not just my eyesight. He said there was a 98% chance I was a telepath."

"That would certainly come in handy right now," Chris said. "Why don't you try it? See what you can do for her?"

"I'll try. Don't be surprised if nothing happens; I've never done it before."

"Go ahead."

They moved back slightly to give me room to kneel beside Jacqueline. I had no idea what I was doing, so I just did what came naturally, placing my hands on her forehead, closing my eyes, and projecting my concentration towards her mind. Nothing was happening. No, wait, _some_thing was happening. It was an odd sensation, something I hadn't ever experienced before. I wasn't in her head yet, but I had the distinct feeling that I wasn't in my own either. My consciousness was sort of…floating. I pushed it in towards Jacqueline and tried to get inside her mind. First there was nothing. Then – 

Pain. Anger. And a sorrow so deep and intense that I was physically jolted and thrown to the ground. For a moment I was only half-conscious.

"Great, don't tell me that's both of them gone comatose," Chris grumbled.

Chloe leaned over me and said in a worried tone, "Neil? Are you all right?"

I blinked and sat up, "Urgh…I think so."

"Did it work? Did something happen?"

"Yeah. I got inside her head…briefly."

"What did you find?" asked Chris.

"Just emotions – feelings. Unhappiness, anger, fear, bitterness – everything that Jacqueline's been keeping hidden inside of her for the last ten years. I think she's more messed up than any of us realised."

"Was she actually in there? Could you communicate with her?"

"I don't know. I was in for less than two seconds. I'll give it another try."

I placed my hands on Jacqueline's forehead once more and projected my mind into hers. This time I was ready for the eruption of emotions that would greet me, and managed to keep control of myself. It was strange; her emotions were flitting about inside my head as if I myself was feeling them. I forced my mind to concentrate, and telepathed to her, _Jacqueline_?

__

Quoi? Qui parle?

I'm sorry?

Qui est vous?

Jacqueline?

Oui?

Um…I'll be back. I'll talk to you again.

Pardon?

I pulled out of her mind, and looked up at the expectant faces of Chris and Chloe.

"Well?" he demanded.

"I got into her mind and talked to her," I said. "But there's a problem."

"What?"

"She can only speak French."

He looked confused, "Huh? That doesn't make any sense."

"I think it does. I wasn't talking to the seventeen-year old Jacqueline who we already knew. I was talking to the seven-year old Jacqueline who's been trapped in her head ever since her parents disowned her."

"What?" Chloe gasped. "So where's the older one? Where's she gone?"

"Deeper into her mind, most likely," I said. "Buried under layers of pain and sorrow. She couldn't cope with her parents deserting her – hell, I know I wouldn't have – and it's messed up her mind completely. She may even have a split personality."

Chris looked at me and raised his eyebrows, "But you can talk to her again, and bring her back, right? You can pull her out of there?"

"Not on my own," I said. "I don't think I have enough telepathic power to go in there and drag her consciousness out. She's got to do it herself, and I can only guide her."

"What if she can't?"

I took a deep breath and answered, "Then we've probably lost her forever."

A/N: sorry to those of you who wanted the characters to join up with the X-Men, but that wasn't where I wanted the story to go. For the things I have in mind, they have to be on their own and relying solely on each other. Please review!


	10. All in the Mind

Chapter Eight: All in the Mind

We walked a little further that night, then found a sheltered spot in the forest where we could catch a few hours' sleep.

"Where are we going to go from here?" Chloe asked. "We can't go back to the mansion. We can't go back home. We don't know where Chameleon or his brother are. We haven't got anywhere to go."

"I don't know. I'm trying not to think about that right now," said Chris. "It's possible that Jacqueline managed to locate Chameleon and the rest before the machine overwhelmed her. That seems to be our only hope right now."

"Neil, can you try again to bring her back?" asked Chloe.

"I can try," I said. "But, guys, I've got no experience whatsoever with telepathy. I might be doing more damage than good if I go into her mind again. There's already two of her in there. She probably doesn't want another person."

"At least go in and try to find her seventeen year-old personality," said Chris. "Ask if she needs your help to make it back out."

I sighed, "All right. I'll try. We've been walking for about an hour, so give me some time to get my energy back."

"OK. In the mean time, use your long-range eyesight to spy on the mansion. See what they're doing and if they've sent anyone after us."

Chloe and Chris laid Jacqueline down gently on the ground, and I turned to face the direction we'd come. It was dark, but my night-vision was good and I forced my eyes to focus further and further into the distance until I could see the mansion. There was nobody in the gardens and I couldn't see any lights on in the building. I zoomed in further. Cyclops was standing at the back door where we'd left the mansion, obviously on guard. I wondered if they knew that we were gone, that we'd been responsible for the noise, that we'd broken into the Cerebro machine. Then an idea occurred to me. Could I read Cyclops' mind? Would it work over this distance? I decided to try it. I concentrated hard and made my mind leave my body, trying to direct it to the mansion. The fact that my eyes were already focusing on Cyclops made it a lot easier for my mind to home in on him. I had the strangest sensation of floating, of travelling, of flying, then I was there, inside his mind.

Cyclops was thinking about Dr Grey, and a man named Logan. He was also thinking about the Professor – and about us. He wanted to come after us. He wasn't being allowed to. The Professor had said…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Professor approaching. Quickly I jumped out of Cyclops' mind before Xavier could detect me, and my consciousness floated back into my own head. I watched as the Professor and Cyclops exchanged a few words – I had no idea what they were saying; I wished I knew how to lip-read – then Xavier went back inside the building and Cyclops returned to guard duty.

"See anything?" Chris asked.

"Cyclops was talking to Xavier. He wants to come after us, but the Professor won't let him. I wasn't able to find out why."

"You could hear what they were saying from this distance?" he asked in surprise.

"No. I was reading his mind."

"Oh, of course. I'd forgotten you can do that now. Don't get any ideas about reading mine. You might not like what you find," he said with a grin. "Do you want to try and help Jacqueline again?"

"All right."

I knelt beside Jacqueline's still figure again, placed the tips of my fingers on either side of her eyes, and entered her mind. It was the same as before, her unhappiness and her anger floating around, out of control, without her conscious self to keep them restrained.

Her seven year-old personality sensed my arrival, and asked, _Qui est ici?_

I didn't speak any French, so I didn't know what she'd asked, or how to respond. Instead of words, I tried telepathing an image to her. I imagined a picture of two people holding hands, standing close to one another, and telepathed it to her, trying to tell her that I was a friend and I wouldn't hurt her.

__

Qui est-tu? was her uncertain response.

I sent the friendly image again, hoping to reassure her – it must have been terrifying for a seven year-old mind to be trapped in this body for ten years, then suddenly left alone as Jacqueline's other personality went dormant.

__

Ami? she replied.

What did that mean? I hoped it was a positive response. I was going to send the friend image again, when she responded with a picture of her own. She'd obviously realised that I didn't speak her language, and had cottoned to my new method of communication. The picture was that of a child holding out her hand towards her mother. Seven year-old Jacqueline was seeking reassurance. I sent back the same picture, with the mother reaching out and holding the child's hand. A couple of seconds passed, and she sent another image: the child with her arms outstretched, wanting a hug. I sent back a picture of the mother hugging the child. I sensed relief, and some of the fear swirling around her mind disappeared. She began sending me more images, in some kind of sequence, trying to tell me what was upsetting her. I tried to make sense of them.

A kitten, running out into the middle of the road. A bus driving towards it. A small girl – I assumed it was Jacqueline – stretching out her hand to stop the bus. The horror on her friends' faces when they realised she was a telepathic mutant. The child, home from school, looking terrified, going to her parents for reassurance. Stretching out her arms to her mother to receive a hug. Being turned away. Her father yelling at her. Her mother pushing her aside. The child, on the floor, screaming and crying. Her parents looking at her with disgust and contempt.

Even with Jacqueline's emotions flowing back and forth along the telepathic link between us, I still couldn't even begin to imagine how she must have felt. Despite what my father had done to me, I still had it easier than Jacqueline. After all, I hadn't even found out about my father until I was sixteen and old enough to handle it. I felt a great surge of anger towards the man and woman who had treated Jacqueline in this way. I allowed my fury to grow and boil, until I realised the seven year-old consciousness could sense it and was frightened. I calmed down and sent her the reassuring images again. Her fear went away.

Talking to her child mind was no good. I had to talk to the teenage Jacqueline, the one who was dormant. I had to seek her out in the hive of sadness and confusion that was her mind. I sought the point at which the negative emotions were strongest, and projected my consciousness in that direction. That was where she had to be. As I moved away, I sensed the child mind becoming frightened again, afraid of being left alone. I felt bad about it, but I knew I couldn't stay with her indefinitely. Things would only be fixed if I could talk to the older Jacqueline and get her to take control of her body again.

I travelled deeper into her mind, always seeking the point where the emotions were most powerful, seeking the focus of her sadness, the centre of her psyche. I knew she'd be there, at the centre of it all. As the feelings around me became stronger and more intense, I found it harder and harder to go on. It was almost as if she was using them as defensive barriers to stop anyone from getting to her. I felt the emotions as if they were my own, and they clamoured for my attention, forcing me to apply my concentration to the utmost to keep focusing on what I was doing. Suddenly I was getting close, I could sense it. She was near. The real Jacqueline. Pushing past the last wave of her bad feelings, forcing my way onwards, I broke through.

Into nothing. The sudden lack of emotions gave me such a shock that I almost lost the telepathic link. There was nothing here. Pure neutrality. Cold, emotionless, distant, imperturbable – yes, this was the teenage Jacqueline's domain, away from the haunting fears of her younger self. I tried to communicate with her, _Jacqueline?_

She responded instantly and with surprise, _Neil?! Is that you? How did you get in here?_

I'm a telepath. You were right about that.

What are you doing here?

I've come to help you get back.

I've been trying. I don't think I can.

You can. I'll help you.

I can't. The emotions are too strong. Every time I try, they turn me back. I can't concentrate on bringing myself back when I'm being bombarded with those memories and feelings.

I understand, I told her, _I just went through them myself. Do you realise there are two of you in here?_

Yes. There's me, and there's the person who was me ten years ago. I've never been able to let go of her.

I was talking to her just now. She told me what happened to you.

She hesitated, and I could sense she was uncomfortable with the fact that I had shared some of her most personal, painful memories.

__

Then you know why I can't come back, she said,_ I can't live the rest of my life being haunted by those memories. If I stay here, in this neutral zone, I can be away from them._

But your body will die without you controlling it!

I – I know. I just can't do it.

Jacqueline, you can. I'm here. I'll help. You've got to let go of the past and live for the future. I know that better than anyone. We're in the same boat, you and I. Both of us have had our lives irreversibly changed by the actions of our parents

But I can't – I can't face my past again.

You've got to be strong.

You're right, she said slowly, _all right, I'm going to give it a try. If I can get back, I can try and stop other people from having to go through what we did._

Right. Are you ready? I'll help you.

Let's try it.

I sensed her consciousness moving, towards the surface, and I went along with her. We reached the barriers of her emotions, and she began to hesitate.

__

Come on, I said, _I'm with you._

OK. Here goes…

We both plunged straight into the sea of emotions, fighting our way through to get to the surface. More than once Jacqueline stumbled, and tried to turn back, but I grabbed her attention and convinced her to continue. She anchored herself to me, and together we broke free of the barriers. Finding ourselves back in the swirling cloud of memories and feelings of her younger mind, I urged her onwards, _We're almost there. Chris and Chloe are waiting._

Let's do it, she agreed.

Was it my imagination or I did sense something, a positive feeling, at the mention of Chris' name? I tried to forget about it; it wasn't right to pry into her thoughts that way when I was supposed to be helping her.

__

Où aller-vous? I heard the child asking as we approached the exit, the periphery of her mind.

__

À réalité. À mon corps. N'inquiéter pas, Jacqueline reassured the child.

__

Non! N'aller pas! the child cried.

__

I told her I was taking control of the body again. She doesn't want to be left alone, Jacqueline said.

As I left her mind, the last sound I heard was the crying of the seven year-old, and I felt a huge stab of guilt. I'd rescued one of the two minds that was inside of her head, but the other was still unhappy and troubled. This wasn't over yet. Someday, maybe with the Professor's help, I'd venture back inside Jacqueline's mind and help her sort herself out. 

Opening my eyes, feeling exhausted, I saw Chris and Chloe looking on intently.

"Hey," I croaked weakly.

"She's been moving. Twitching her arms and trying to speak," Chloe said.

"I got her out. I convinced her to come back to us."

Chris breathed a sigh of relief, "Good work. I knew you could do it."

Jacqueline made a sharp intake of breath, and her eyes snapped open.

"Hey, she's back!" Chris greeted her.

Chloe smiled and hugged me tightly. Jacqueline suddenly screamed and tears began to fall from her eyes, as she gave vent to all the emotions that had been bottled up in her mind for ten long years. She clutched the nearest person, who was Chris, and flung her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. Taken by surprise, he put his arms round her too and began patting her gently on the back, awkwardly trying to comfort her.

"Don't worry," I said. "I had to get her to relive some pretty awful memories in order to get her out of there. She'll be fine."

Jacqueline wouldn't let go of Chris; she wanted somebody she could hold on to and be comforted by, as her parents had refused to do for her. Eventually she cried herself dry of tears, and simply rested in his arms, reassured by the warmth of him.

"Um, Jacqueline," he said finally. "I'd like to be able to move, please."

She relaxed and let go of him. He looked at her with genuine care and concern in his eyes, "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she lied.

I didn't uncover the lie. There was no way that Chris or Chloe could know about the troubled state in which we'd left her second mind, and I wasn't going to tell them until Jacqueline wanted to reveal it. I knew she was certainly in a better condition, both mentally and emotionally, than she had been for years, but there was still a way to go before she could honestly say she was 'all right'.

"I told you it would be a bad idea to use the Professor's machine," she told him. "You almost lost me. And where are we, anyway?"

"We had to run. They'd have found us," he said. "We're going after Neil's father. Incidentally, did you manage to find them at all when you were using that machine?"

"I couldn't pinpoint them exactly, but I have a vague idea of their position," she said. "They're somewhere in New York City."

Chloe raised her eyebrows, "That's not too far away from here – right?"

"I think so," I said.

"It does give us a pretty wide area to search," Chris, ever the pessimist, grumbled. "Do any of you know just how big New York City is? Still, it's a start. That's where we'll head."

"On foot? How far is it?"

"No idea. Let's just keep walking until we hit a road, or the ocean. Then we can hitch a lift the rest of the way."

"We really don't have a clue how to get there, do we?"

"No," Chris answered honestly. "But I'm sure it won't be hard to find somebody who's travelling to NYC. Even if they won't offer us a lift, I'm sure Jacqueline could _persuade_ them. Anyway, we'll get some sleep tonight and then head out. Neil, can you take another look back at the mansion to make sure nobody's following us?"

I turned my eyes back towards the mansion and focused over the few miles we had come. Soon it came into view, and I said, "Cyclops is gone. Storm's taken his place."

"Try reading her mind."

"Jacqueline, you do it," I said. "You're better at it. Borrow my vision."

I felt once more the odd sensation as Jacqueline delved into my mind, to see what my eyes could see. I could sense, very vaguely, her consciousness floating out towards the estate, and then she was inside Storm's mind.

"They know it was us who broke into Cerebro," Jacqueline said. "They know we've run. Storm wants to come after us."

"Yeah, to kill us, no doubt," said Chris.

"No," said Jacqueline, shaking her head. "She's worried about us. She's hoping we're all right. She's hoping we don't get hurt. Storm genuinely cares about us, Chris."

Snapping off her telepathy, leaving both my mind and Storm's, she turned angrily to face him, "Damn it, Chris, they were the only friends we had in the world and you had to go and piss them off! What if the Professor never wants to see us again? We may have just thrown away our only chance of making something good out of our lives!"

"What, you mean joining Xavier's human-loving X-Men?" Chris snapped. "Don't make me laugh! You know as well as I do that humans will _never_ accept us! Why should we waste our time helping _them_?"

"Oh, so you'd rather go around _killing _humans?"

"No, of course not! All I'm saying is they can look after themselves!"

"Will you two stop arguing?" I said. "What's done is done. We can't change the past, so let's concentrate on the future."

Chris nodded, "Yeah. You're right. Let's get some sleep."

Chloe yawned and her eyelids began to droop. Chris lay down in the sheltered area we had found, turned over and fell asleep instantly. As Chloe made herself as comfortable as she could, Jacqueline walked over to me and whispered, "I just want to thank you for not telling them about the problems I was having. You know, with my second mind. She's still in there, and she's still crying. She wants us to come back and talk to her again."

__

Can she hear this? I telepathed.

__

No. She doesn't have a direct link to the telepathic part of my brain. You'd have to completely enter my mind, like you did before, to talk to her.

"Can't you talk to her yourself?"

"No. For the same reason. I can hear her but she can't hear me. She's got no way of detecting it. I'd have to go dormant in my mind, and I don't want to do that again in a hurry."

"Are you all right? I mean, are you holding together?"

"At the moment. I'm scared, though. I feel like I'm going insane. Having two people in your head is _not_ something I would recommend."

"You'll get through it OK."

"I wish I could be sure. Anyway, good night."

I watched her as she curled up on the ground and tried to go to sleep. She was different, ever since I'd been in her head and brought her back out. She seemed more vulnerable, and used her emotions a lot more. Anger, fear, worry, I'd sensed them all in her since freeing her mind. I couldn't decide if it was better or worse, from her point of view.

I went to lie down next to Chloe and catch some rest. Tomorrow we'd head for New York City, where we'd hunt down Inferno, Chameleon and my father, and put an end to their cruel experiments. We'd sort out my past, and then, when it was over, maybe, just maybe, we'd be able to help Jacqueline sort hers out too.


	11. On our Own

Chapter Nine: On our Own

It took us a day and a half to reach the outskirts of New York City. When we got there it was about noon, and the mid-day sun was burning down not only into my still-painful eyes, but also on to our pale skin, which was more acclimatised to Scottish weather.

"It's too hot," Chloe gasped. "I can't stand it."

"It's the humidity that's the worst. I feel like I'm melting," said Jacqueline.

Chris grinned at her, "Yeah. Don't you just wish you could change into liquid to escape the heat?"

"Very funny. What's our next move?"

He thought for a moment, then said, "Anything that will help us track down our enemies. I was thinking we could check the newspapers. If there's been any mutant crimes reported, it might be our old friends Chameleon and Inferno. I'd wager those two can't stay out of trouble for too long."

"OK, let's find some newspapers," I said.

Jacqueline held up her hand, "Wait a minute."

"What?"

"I dunno. Something weird's happening. There's somebody trying to dive into my mind. Neil, can you feel it too?"

"Just about. I'm not as sensitive to it as you are."

"Who is it?" asked Chris.

"I don't know. It's gone now. But there was definitely somebody."

"Maybe it was the Professor, keeping an eye on us," Chloe suggested.

Jacqueline shook her head, "No, I'd have recognised if it was him. He taught me a lot about mind-reading when we were at the school, and he was in and out of my head all the time. I learned to recognise his thought pattern."

"What about Dr Grey?"

"Same. I practised with her sometimes when the Professor was busy. It wasn't anyone we know."

"Weird," said Chris. "Well, NYC's a big place. There must be other telepaths living here. Maybe one of them sensed our presence and was just curious."

"Yeah, could be," I said. "Anyway, we'll worry about it if it happens again. Let's look at the papers."

We headed down the street in search of a newsagent's. It was my first time in a city since this whole thing had started, and I'd forgotten how people reacted to me – to us. Without any sun-glasses to cover my eyes, my gold pupils instantly gave away the fact that I was a mutant, and people responded accordingly. Children ran away from us, people crossed the road to avoid walking past us, and we had insults thrown at us from all directions, as well as one or two stones. Chris was angry and turned round to scan the street every time somebody yelled an insult, in the hope of finding the guilty party. Jacqueline had gone back to her cool, uncaring appearance, and I could sense she was desperately trying to keep her emotions in check, in case she lost control. Chloe was scared and walked close to me. I tried to ignore the insults and keep walking. I knew people didn't hate us because they were evil – it was ignorance and prejudice, rather than real hatred, the Professor had said.

Thankfully we reached a newsagent's before Chris lost his temper and attacked anyone. Copies of various newspapers – local, city-wide and nation-wide – were lying on a bench outside of the store. Chris picked up one of the city papers, and began flicking through the front pages.

"Well, don't just stand there, try some of the others," he said impatiently.

"I'll keep an eye out in case any trouble comes our way," I said.

Jacqueline and Chloe both picked up a New York paper, and examined the front pages. A few minutes passed, and no sign of any threats approaching.

"Anything yet?" I asked.

"No. Two mutants arrested near the coast, but they were both in their 30s. Can't be either of our little friends," said Chris.

Jacqueline looked up, "An 8 year-old mutant child was shot dead outside a library yesterday. Identity of killer: unknown. Police response: none."

"They probably did the killing," Chris snapped. 

"I can't believe someone killed a mutant kid and got away with it, and nobody cares," said Chloe sadly.

"Believe it. Most people would love to see us all dead," said Chris.

"Wait a minute, here's something," said Jacqueline, scanning the page intently. "Yeah, this sounds promising. Two mutants – male, late teens – escaped police pursuit after robbing a bank last night. South edge of the city."

"Could be them. Could be someone else," I said.

"Except one of them set several police vehicles on fire and the second was seen to suddenly disappear without trace," she continued. "It's them. It's Inferno and Chameleon."

"_Right_!" Chris enthused. "We've got them! They must be based down in that area. We'll head down there immediately."

"We'll need to take a bus or a train," I said. "Have we got enough money?"

"Actually, we haven't got any," he said. "We've got the money we picked up when we were in the Highlands, but that won't be any good in America."

"Can't we get it changed at a bank or something?" Chloe asked.

Jacqueline shrugged, "Probably, but if we're changing foreign money, they might ask to see our passports."

"Which we don't have with us," I said. "Actually, we have no legal basis whatsoever for being in this country. We're foreign nationals and we haven't got any visas or anything."

"That's bad," said Chris. "All right, here's a plan: let's not get picked up the police. We're mutants and we shouldn't even be in the country – probably the very least they'd do is lock us away for ninety years."

"So how are we going to get down to the south of the city?" Chloe asked.

"I dunno. We'll nick a car or something," said Chris. "I learned how to drive when I was 13. My cousin and I found an abandoned car down by the docks."

"Didn't you just say we don't want to get caught by the police?" Jacqueline retorted. "Mutants, who shouldn't even be in the country, stealing a car and driving it under-aged and without a license – yes, that would look good, wouldn't it?"

"All right then, Einstein, you give us a plan."

"We'll use the subway," she suggested. "If someone comes round to ask for tickets, I'll just go into their mind and make them think we've already shown them."

I nodded and Chloe brightened at the prospect of progress. Chris said grudgingly, "All right, I suppose that would work. Where's the nearest subway station?"

"We passed it back there. Let's go."

The journey on the subway passed uneventfully, but the carriages began to get uncomfortably hot as we travelled south. Chris had gone to sleep – I wondered idly if his ability to drop off within seconds was actually an extra mutation – and Jacqueline had her eyes closed and her head resting on the back of the seat, but she wasn't asleep. I could sense it. Chloe was bored and had picked up a magazine that had been left by a previous occupant of our carriage.

__

Jacqueline? I asked telepathically.

__

What?

How are you doing in there? How is – um – little Jacqueline? What do you call her, incidentally?

You can refer to her as Jackie. That's what people called me at that age. Anyway, she'll still upset. She's wondering who you were. She liked you. She wants you to come back.

Maybe I could. If we get a spare moment, I could – 

Could what?

I could go back into your mind and talk to her.

I'd – I'd prefer you didn't. It's hard enough with the two of us. I think if there was a third person in here, I'd begin to go crazy. I feel pretty awful leaving Jackie in there alone, but there's no other way.

OK. Well, if you want someone to talk to her, I'll do it any time.

Yeah, thanks.

"Looks like we're almost there," said Chris, startling both of us. "Next stop's ours."

We got off the train at the next stop and Chris opened his jacket to pull out the newspaper which he'd swiped from the store. It was the one Jacqueline had been reading, the one with the report about Inferno and Chameleon.

"All right, where now?" I asked him.

"Well, we're assuming that your father's operating out of this area. We've got to find out where his centre of operations is. Let's try and find a directory of the area."

We found a telephone directory in a nearby phone box, and Chris opened it.

"OK, what're we looking for?" he said.

"I dunno. It was your idea," said Chloe.

"Try the name Rosiçky, I suppose," I shrugged.

He flicked to the Rs and scanned down the page, "OK, 7 Rosiçkys live in this neighbourhood. None of them named Davor."

"Hmm. Try the business section."

He turned through the pages and searched for my father's name – my name – once more.

"Hey, this might be it," he said. "Rosiçky Genetic Research Laboratories. It's – um – a few miles west of here, I think."

"Then let's head there."

"All right. We may need to stop and formulate some sort of plan at some point," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "I mean, fun as it may sound, I don't like the idea of just walking up there and passing the time of day with your father and his four 'kids'. Some way of sneaking up on then might be nice."

"Also nearly impossible," I said. "Chameleon can look through walls, just like me, remember? We can't hope to get in there undetected."

"Sure we can. You just keep an eye on Chameleon. Chloe can do her stuff and start some distraction, then we'll sneak in."

"You think they'll fall for the distraction-by-animals trick a second time?" Jacqueline asked dubiously. "If they know we're capable of it, it will just alert them to our presence."

"Do what we did with the Professor," suggested Chloe. "Wait until Chameleon's gone to sleep, then make our way in."

"No, I still think that's too risky," I said. "We don't know what mutations my father, or the other two we've never met, possess. Maybe one of them is a telepath, who'd be able to sense our approach." 

"I wish we'd stayed with Xavier," Jacqueline sighed. "He'd know what to do."

"Why don't you telepath to him and ask his advice if you think he's so great?" Chris snapped.

She shook her head, "I would, but – I don't feel like I could talk to him right now. Not after betraying his trust the way we did."

"And we can't rely on him sending his X-Men to help us out a second time," I said. "If he's really mad at us – and I wouldn't blame him – he may not be willing to help."

"I think he would help," said Chloe.

"So do I, but we can't be certain of it."

Chris threw up his arms, "Oh, this is pointless. Let's stop arguing and just get on with it! We can think of a plan when we get there. At least then we'll have a better idea of how we might get into this place."

We put the phone book back, and walked down the street in the direction Chris indicated. I was focusing a few hundred yards again, watching for trouble, when I suddenly spotted something.

"Uh-oh," I said.

"What?"

"There's a huge bunch of people staging an anti-mutant demonstration. Looks like some kind of march. They're coming this way."

"Scum," Chris seethed.

"Can we go round them to avoid being seen?" asked Chloe.

"Why should we?" Chris demanded. "I'm not ashamed of what I am! I'd like to know exactly what it is about us that these people can't accept! In fact, I'm going to go over there and have it out with them right this second!"

I closed my eyes, "Don't."

When I opened them, he had already sprinted ahead in the direction of the mob.

"Stop him!" said Chloe.

__

Chris! Don't! Jacqueline sent.

__

Don't start any trouble! I told him.

I projected my thoughts towards him for any reply he might make.

__

Sorry, Shades. Sorry, Psyche, he responded,_ a man's gotta do – well, you know the rest._

Psyche? Jacqueline repeated.

__

Yeah, I decided to give you a nickname, he told her, _like it?_

Chris, come back. Now!

He made no response, and we had no choice but to run after him. Jacqueline and I were reasonably swift runners, but not as fast as Chris, and Chloe was slowing us down. We had no hope of stopping him before he reached the demonstrators, but we had to pull him away from there before he went and started some kind of riot.

When we got there, he had reached the front of the crowd. A man, holding up a placard that read** Die Mutant Scum** appeared to be the leader of the march, and was instigating some kind of chant. I couldn't quite make it out, but I wasn't really listening. I was more intent on watching Chris, as he grabbed the man by the collar and began yelling at him. I could sense Chris' emotions running wild – anger, mostly – and screams began to erupt from the crowd as they saw the furious teenager manhandling their leader.

"So what's wrong with mutants, scum-bag?" I could hear him yelling as we got closer. "Huh? What the hell would you know about it? Do you hate black people? Do you hate the disabled? They were born what they are, just the same as us!"

The man was terrified – I didn't even have to read his emotions to tell that – and he struggled to get away from Chris. By this time the crowd were fleeing in all directions, horrified when they learned that Chris was a mutant.

__

Chris! Leave him! It's not worth it! I sent.

Chris shoved the man on to the ground and spat down at him, "Scum!"

The man scrambled to his feet and fled. Chris glared after him, kicked at the fallen placard, then I sensed him getting his emotions in check, and he calmed. Turning to us as we ran up to him, he said, "Well, that was a pleasant discussion. Always nice to exchange one's views."

"What were you _thinking_?!" Jacqueline shrieked. "We can't get into trouble, you said! Everybody's looking at us now! You've probably gone and alerted half the neighbourhood to our presence!"

"Yeah, so what?"

"It'll get through to Rosiçky and the rest, that's what! Come on, let's get away from here and hide somewhere!"

Grabbing him by the arm, we pulled Chris off the main road and into a side street. A few people pelted us with rotten fruit and stones as we went. Then came the sound I had been dreading ever since Chris had launched himself at the crowd.

Police sirens. At least two, coming our way.

"Oh, great," Chris said. "Don't worry, I grew up dodging the police. This shouldn't be – "

A voice came from behind us, "Freeze!" 

"OK, forget I said that," he muttered, as we turned to see two police officers, guns in hand, standing a few yards away.

"Mutants," one of them hissed, when he saw my eyes.

"Wait a minute," his partner said suddenly. "It's them. These are the ones we've been looking for!"

"What are you talking about?" Chris snapped.

The officer pointed the gun at him and said, "Shut up. We received a report of four mutants, one with gold eyes, involved in an armed robbery in this area, less than an hour ago. Looks like we caught you. Honestly, you freaks are so stupid. The least you might have done is cover up your eyes."

__

Chameleon! I telepathed to the others, _they must be talking about Chameleon! He's got gold eyes like mine! He and Inferno and the other two we've never met must be the ones they're looking for!_

Right, Jacqueline responded, _which means they're definitely still in the area. We just need to get out of this situation_, _then we can search for them._

Easier said than done, said Chris.

__

Are they going to shoot us? Chloe asked nervously.

The police officer smirked and said, "I take it by your silence that you freaks aren't going to deny anything. We're taking you in. Get the cuffs on them."

The other cop walked towards us, and Jacqueline said, "We haven't done anything!"

"Yeah, whatever. Save your lies till we get you down to the station."

"Sorry, we're not going anywhere," Jacqueline replied, as she raised her arm.

Using her power, she pushed the two officers away from us, and yelled, "Run for it!"

We didn't hesitate. Chris led the way out into the main road, where we fled back in the direction we had just come, back towards the subway station. I sensed the two policemen following us, yelling for backup. A police van was parked at the side of the road, and as we watched, three cops jumped out, and three dogs on leashes followed them. The dogs were released and sent after us, easily covering the short distance between themselves and our fleeing figures.

"Chloe? Do something!" Chris yelled.

Chloe turned behind her and called to the dogs, "Please! Stop! Turn around! Leave us alone!"

The dogs barked in acknowledgement, and turned around to trot calmly up the road, back towards the police van. Chris grinned and we continued hurrying down the road.

"The subway station!" he cried. "We'll go down there and lose them in the crowds!"

When we got to the subway station, however, we could see the crowds of people, screaming, running, up the stairs from the underground section. Not stopping to consider what had scared them, we plunged into the crowd, pushing against the flow, heading down the stairs.

It probably wasn't a good idea. Chloe was right behind me, but I lost sight of Chris and Jacqueline as soon as I entered the teeming mass of people. I heard Chloe cry out as she lost her balance, and I turned to help her, but the crowd had already swallowed her up and I could see no sign of her. Pushing onwards, I reached the bottom of the stairs, where the throng of people thinned out, and looked around for my friends. I couldn't see them anywhere.

__

Guys? I called telepathically.

__

Neil, where are you? Jacqueline replied.

__

At the bottom of the stairs, where are you?

Uh, same. Damn it, we must have gone down different sets of stairs? Can you see Chloe?

No.

Hang on. Talk to you later.

She cut off the link, and I looked around, trying to see if Chloe was anywhere near me. The crowd had disappeared up the stairs, and I found myself alone in the subway station. The others must have taken a different route and ended up somewhere else in the terminal. Damn it! I couldn't believe we'd got split up! Well, at least we'd lost the cops.

Just as relief was beginning to flow through me, something slammed into my back and knocked me to the floor.

__

Help! I called to the others, not knowing whether or not they could hear it.

I tried to get up, but a knee in my shoulder blades pinned me down, and an arm was wrapped around my throat, cutting off my breathing.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Chameleon hissed into my ear.


	12. An Unlikely Alliance

A/N: this chapter contains X2 spoilers!

Chapter Ten: The Unlikely Alliance

Chameleon's grip around my neck tightened and I fought desperately for breath. My left arm was trapped underneath me, but my right arm was free and I tried frantically to loosen his hold on my throat. My vision was beginning to blur and I felt myself becoming dizzy from lack of oxygen. I couldn't budge his arm one bit, he was too strong. I knew there was only one thing for it. Relaxing my body and closing my eyes, I focused with my entire concentration and used my telekinesis to _push_ him away from me. He gave a cry of surprise as he was thrown backwards, and I gasped for breath as my windpipe was released.

"Telepathy," he snarled. "He never gave _me_ telepathy."

I was tempted to make some sarcastic remark, but I was still getting my breathing under control and couldn't speak.

"Well, I guess it'll just make killing you that much more interesting," he said, getting to his feet and camouflaging himself.

His body blended in perfectly with the wall behind him, and, even with my eyesight, I struggled to make out the shape of his figure. I saw him coming towards me, and backed off.

__

Jacqueline? I called, _where are you? I've bumped into Chameleon and I could use some help!_

Sorry, we're a bit busy, she responded, _we've just met Inferno._

Where's Chloe?

Dunno. Got to go!

We cut the link and I ducked to avoid a punch from Chameleon. Raising my hand, I used my power again to throw him backwards into the wall. My power wasn't yet that strong, and it didn't appear to have done much more than make him angry. I backed away once more, heading back towards the stairs where it wasn't quite so dark, where I'd have a better chance of being able to see him. He realised my intentions, and refused to venture out of the dark corner in which he had ambushed me.

A noise from my right grabbed my attention and I risked a glance in that direction. I could see Chris! He was grappling with Inferno: punching, chopping, ducking, dodging, never allowing himself to remain in a position where the fire-breather might be able to flame him. I turned my attention back to Chameleon, who had taken up a crouching position at the bottom of the stairs, obviously unaware that my eyes could still see him while camouflaged. I looked over at Chris again. He was definitely winning. Inferno was neither weak nor slow, but he didn't have the agility or reflexes of his brother, and Chris was quickly getting the better of him. As I watched, a fast punch to Inferno's jaw sent the taller twin stumbling backwards to hit the wall.

__

Jacqueline? Where are you? I asked.

__

Looking for Chloe, she responded, _I don't understand how we managed to lose her._

OK. Let me know if you find her.

I wondered what had happened to Chloe. She'd been right behind me when we'd come down the stairs into the station, but the rushing crowd had swept her away from me and I'd lost sight of her. Then I'd run into Chameleon and hadn't had a chance to search. I turned my eyes back towards the reptilian. He was still camouflaged and lurking in the shadows at the bottom of the stairs, probably hoping that I would walk past without seeing him, so he could attack me from behind. I raised my hand and used my power to fling him backwards again. He gave a snarl of fury and came rushing up the stairs towards me. I heard Chris give a cry of pain, and I instinctively looked over to see what had happened to him. Somehow Inferno had managed to get the upper hand in their battle, and was knocking Chris about with blows that were faster and harder than before. 

I'd been distracted for too long, and felt an explosion of pain as Chameleon slammed his fist into my face. I hit the ground and rolled aside to avoid the kick he aimed at my side. I got to my feet and dodged another punch. Chameleon feinted with his right, then smacked his left fist into my jaw. Lifting my hand, I tried to use my telekinesis to push him away, but nothing happened. My power was used up and I would have to wait until it recovered. Where was Jacqueline? I needed her help. Backing away from Chameleon, I headed over to where Chris was. Hopefully Jacqueline wouldn't be too far away. The reptilian followed me at a cautious pace, in case I was leading him into a trap, but always remained close enough that I couldn't turn and make a run for it.

I heard Chris yell again, and glanced round to see Inferno throwing him against the wall.

__

Jacqueline? Where are you? We need your help, they're too powerful!

No response.

__

Jacqueline? Are you there? Can you hear me?

No, of course she couldn't. My power was used up. I couldn't telepath. I looked up to see Chameleon approaching me, walking in his unusual crouching gait. Quickly looking around for a weapon, anything to defend myself with, I couldn't see a thing. I was in trouble. I knew I couldn't possibly stand up to him in a fist-fight. 

Or could I? A memory cropped up from our first battle, at the facility. Twice I'd managed to get the better of both Chameleon and his brother, if only for a few moments. Both times it had happened right after one of them had tried to hurt Chloe. I'd responded in anger and it had given me extra strength. Or had it? Had it been coincidence? Was there a direct connection? It was worth a try. As Chameleon got closer, I tried to make myself become angry. I remembered what it had felt like to see him hit Chloe. To see her fall to the ground, crying out in pain, innocent and defenceless. Fury rose in my veins like an electric current, and I felt adrenaline surging through me. I ran towards Chameleon and swung my fist.

He raised his own arm to block, but my punch was far too powerful, and it sent him flying, losing his balance and falling on to his back. He looked up in shock and surprise, and more than a little fear. I risked a glance behind me. Chris had picked up an iron bar from somewhere, and was using it to keep Inferno at arm's length, swinging it in a wide arc every time the fire-breather got too close. Inferno exhaled a burst of flame, but Chris ducked and Inferno had to jump back to avoid being hit by the metal bar.

Then it happened. Inferno attacked in anger, just as I had. He gave a growl of rage, then reached out with both hands to cleanly snap the iron bar in half.

"What the _hell_?" Chris yelled. "You can't possibly be that strong!"

"My fury attack," Inferno smirked. "One of the gifts I was given. Now it's time for you to die."

"Not so fast," I interrupted, making my way over. "You're not the only one with that gift. "

Inferno looked at me with an annoyed expression, "You again? Why are you still alive? Can't Chameleon do anything right?"

I thought of Chloe, of her being hurt. My anger rose. I threw a punch at him, but he had already entered his own fury attack, and blocked me easily. He swung his other fist at me, and I ducked.

"Not bad," he said. "I guess you weren't a _complete_ failure, after all."

Chris hit Inferno from behind and he stumbled. I punched him in the jaw and he fell, blood trickling from between his lips.

"Not looking so _hot_ now, is it, fire-boy?" Chris taunted him.

Chameleon crashed into my back, knocking me into Chris, sending both of us sprawling. From a grounded position, I swung my leg at the reptilian's ankles, forcing him to jump to the side to avoid me. I rose to my feet and slowly approached him. He hesitated, looking a lot less sure of himself than before, now that he had seen me use my rage attack. What was it that enabled me to do that, anyway? Another mutation? Another 'gift' from my father?

Inferno was still lying on his back, holding his painful jaw, looking up apprehensively as Chris towered over him, his fists clenched.

__

Chris! Get away! He's going to – 

Jacqueline's warning came a second too late, as Inferno leapt up from the ground with astonishing speed, a huge column of fire erupting from his throat, directly towards Chris. There was no way my friend could avoid the flame, and as such he had only one choice. Calling upon his power, Chris changed to liquid, melting to the ground as the fire passed over him. The flame died away, and Chris solidified once more.

Jacqueline appeared from behind Inferno, and used her power to throw the fire-breather high over our heads and into the wall. He hit the bricks with a painful-sounding thud, and fell to the ground, not moving. Chameleon screamed in fury, and came speeding towards me. Jacqueline calmly raised her hand, holding him in place, his flailing arms and legs beating helplessly against the air. 

"I couldn't find Chloe anywhere," she said. "I don't know what's happened to her."

"She must be here somewhere," I said, though I was beginning to worry. "We just need to search a bit harder."

"What do we do with these two?" Chris asked, indicating the unconscious Inferno and the telepathically-stopped Chameleon.

"I don't know," said Jacqueline. "We could hand them over to the police, I suppose. Thought I'm not sure if that's such a great – "

Suddenly she screamed in agony and began clutching her head. Her power failed and Chameleon was free. Caught by surprise, he fell on to his face. Then the pain, whatever was hurting Jacqueline, hit me too. It came from nowhere; one second I was fine, the next it felt as if my head was being ripped apart by forces far beyond my power. I fell on to my hands and knees, unable to cope with the pain. Screaming in anguish, I couldn't see what Chameleon or the others were doing, and right now I didn't care. My entire being centred on the pain. Forcing myself to look up, I saw the others in similar condition. Chris was yelling in agony, Chameleon writhing on the ground with his head in his hands, his camouflage deactivated. Inferno, who had just regained consciousness, was curled into a ball, holding his head, groaning loudly.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain was gone. I slumped forward in relief, and found myself breathing heavily. I was exhausted.

"What the _f**k_ was that?" Chameleon snapped.

I looked at him. He too was panting and wheezing with exhaustion, and looked as if the last thing he wanted to do was start fighting again. I heard Jacqueline take a deep breath and say in a disbelieving voice, "It was Professor Xavier."

"What?" I demanded.

"He was…using Cerebro. He was using his power to kill every mutant on the planet."

"I _knew_ we couldn't trust him!" Chris declared angrily.

She shook her head, "No…no, he was being manipulated. I don't know what was going on, but…he was being used against his will."

"How do you know?"

"I could…sense it. I told you I could recognise his thought patterns. I could tell where he was and what was happening to him, even if he wasn't in full control of his mind."

"Who was manipulating him? My father?" I asked.

"What? No, no. It was a human. Someone in the military."

"Who's Xavier?" Chameleon demanded.

Chris snapped at him, "Shut up, you. We didn't ask your opinion. Neil, let's finish this guy, then cart them both off to the cops."

"Wait a minute," said Jacqueline. "I can sense Chloe. She's outside somewhere. She's – "

A voice came from the top of the stairs, amplified through a megaphone, "THIS IS THE POLICE. WE KNOW YOU FREAKS ARE IN THERE. WE'VE GOT ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP, OR WE ARE AUTHORISED TO ENTER AND SEIZE YOU BY FORCE. YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS."

"Damn it!" Chris snapped. "They've got Chloe! We've got to get her back!"

"How?" I asked.

He frowned and looked blank for a moment, then an idea occurred to him, "Hey, you! Chameleon!"

"Yeah, what do you want?" Chameleon said irritably.

"Get out there and make yourself invisible. Get our friend back."

The reptilian snorted, "Yeah, right. Why would I want to do that?"

"To save your brother's life?" Chris said, pointing towards the semi-conscious figure of Inferno. "If you don't go and help our friend, I promise you that your twin's breathed his last flame."

I knew Chris was lying. I knew he wouldn't kill Inferno in cold blood, but Chameleon didn't know him as I did. He shot us a look of pure venom and spat on the floor, "All right. But if you so much as touch my brother, I'll snap your little friend's neck and – "

"Whatever. You're wasting time. Get out there and do it."

Chameleon glared at him with hatred, then turned and ran for the stairs, activating his camouflage on the way. I looked up at the entrance to the subway station, and forced my eyes to focus beyond the wall to see outside. Chloe was being held in the grip of two police officers, looking tired and helpless. I seethed with fury as I realised I was unable to do anything to aid her. I couldn't believe we'd just made a deal with our worst enemies to get her back, but it was the only way. I just hoped that Chameleon's desire to keep his brother alive would prove to be greater than his desire to kill Chloe.

"YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO COMPLY," the policeman with the megaphone called down the stairs. "FOUR, THREE – "

I could see the shape of Chameleon as he neared the police officers holding Chloe, though clearly he was completely invisible to all of them.

" – TWO, ONE, ZERO. ALL RIGHT, YOU LEAVE US NO – "

He was cut off as Chameleon's invisible form knocked into the two cops holding Chloe, then grabbed her arm and began pulling her towards the subway station. Chloe was bewildered, taken completely by surprise, then she realised what was happening and began struggling. She obviously thought Chameleon was going to harm her.

__

Chloe! It's all right! He's helping you escape! Jacqueline told her, _we made a deal with him!_

Chloe stopped struggling, and she and Chameleon hurried down the stairs just as the policemen grabbed their weapons and began running after them.

"We've got to get out of here!" Chris said. "Inferno, is there another exit?"

The fire-breather had got to his feet painfully and nodded, "Yes. One of the old abandoned railway tracks. This way."

Chameleon ran to help him stand up, while Chloe hurried over towards me. Flinging her arms around my neck, I could sense her relief flowing through her body.

"We can't stop now," I said. "We've got to run for it. Come on!"

The two of us turned and fled after the others. Inferno, supported by Chameleon, led the way, with Chris and Jacqueline right behind them. Yet again I couldn't believe it. Here we were, temporarily allied with our worst enemies, in a desperate attempt to escape the clutches of the NYC police. I turned round to see the pursuit. Police officers. And dogs.

"Chloe!"

She saw the dogs, and cried, "Leave us! Help us! Get in their way!"

The dogs began to bark and howl and snap at the ankles of the police officers, causing several of them to trip and fall on to their faces. Chaos ensued, but several policemen were still running after us, their longer strides enabling them to close the gap.

"Nice one," Inferno said grudgingly. "All right, take a left here."

Chameleon pushed open a door that read **Danger** **– No Entry **and we hurried through. The corridor beyond was dark and cramped, but we soon emerged into a larger chamber, though one that was poorly lit.

"Where are we?" asked Chloe.

"The abandoned railway line, like I said," Inferno replied. "Don't stop, keep going! The cops are still behind us!"

We followed them down the dark tunnel, until they turned left and entered a nearly invisible crack in the surrounding rocks. Looking through the wall for a moment, I ascertained that we were not being led into a trap, and went through the gap after them. 

"We should be safe now," said Inferno. "We're in the city sewers. Once we block up that hole, they'll never find us. Help me move this in the way."

Chris and I helped Inferno and Chameleon manhandle a large rock in front of the hole we'd just come through, then we backed off into our respective parties and Chris said, "Well, what now?"

"Now we find a man-hole and go back up into the street. There's one just along here."

"I didn't mean that. I meant once we're out of this – "

" – we go back to killing each other," Inferno finished for him. "I know. Don't worry, we have no intention of becoming your friends."

"Good. Just so that's clear," said Chris, then he smirked. "Admit it, though, you'd be trying to kill us _now_ if it weren't for the fact that you know you don't stand a chance against us."

Chameleon reacted angrily, and stepped towards him, but Inferno put his hand on his twin's arm and pulled him back, saying, "He's right, you know. They've grown more powerful since we last met."

"Maybe so. This isn't over," Chameleon spat at us.

"Of course not," said Chris. "We'll be back to help you learn your ABCs before long."

"All right, Chris, shut up," said Jacqueline. "Let's just get out of here."

We found the man-hole Inferno had mentioned, and Chameleon climbed up into the street above. Inferno was about to follow, when Chris grabbed him, "Uh-uh. You two aren't going up there first to prepare any little surprises for us. You can stay down here till last."

Inferno shrugged and said nothing, but moved away from the ladder. Chris went up, then Chloe and Jacqueline.

"After you," said Inferno mockingly.

I gave him an indifferent stare, and climbed the ladder to the street. 

As soon as I saw the girl standing beside Chameleon, I knew it had been a trap. We'd been tricked, and deliberately led along this path.

"We brought them here, just like you planned," Chameleon was saying to her.

The girl nodded to him, and I took a closer look at her. She was about sixteen or seventeen, had long, jet-black hair, and was short, probably no more than five foot three. She was also stunningly beautiful. I could sense Chris' feelings ranging from fear to anger to lust to curiosity.

"Who are you?" he demanded, as Inferno ascended the ladder and went to stand beside the girl.

__

I am Mindstorm, her voice came into my mind, _I am one of the four._

"Oh, great. Another telepath," Chris muttered. "Just what we needed."

Jacqueline looked at the girl, Mindstorm, and said, "You're the telepath who was trying to get into our minds when we first arrived in the city. I recognise your thought pattern."

__

Yes,Mindstorm replied,_ I have been following your progress for some time._

"You don't say much, do you?" Chris asked sarcastically. "Cat got your tongue?"

__

There is nothing to say. You are going to die.

Mindstorm easily, almost casually, raised her arms, and I felt an unseen force lifting me off the ground. She threw her arms forward and used her power to fling the four of us across the street. I could feel Jacqueline using her own power to slow our movement just before we collided painfully with a brick wall. We slid down the wall towards the ground, and both Jacqueline and I used our telekinesis to allow the four of us to hit the concrete gently. Getting to our feet slowly and painfully – we'd still hit the wall at a good speed – we faced the three mutants who were now approaching us.

__

So two of you are telepaths, came Mindstorm's voice, _yet the two of you together still do not have enough power to challenge me._

"We'll see," Chris snapped. "Neil, Jacqueline, return a favour for me. Throw her clean aross the street."

Both of us raised our hands to use our power, and Mindstorm's body began to rise from the pavement. But only for a few moments. A smile, calm and unworried, crossed the girl's face, and she casually raised her own hand to bring herself back down to earth.

"I guess she wasn't lying," Chris said.

"What do we do now?" asked Chloe.

"I dunno. If we're lucky, we might be near a zoo. A few elephants and tigers on our side would help."

"Very funny. What's our plan?"

"I…can't think of one right now. Just stay alive until I think of something."

I watched with mounting fear as our three enemies came towards us: Inferno, still in pain, limping; Chameleon, still walking in his strange crab-like way; and our new nemesis, Mindstorm, walking calmly, without a fear in the world. Staying alive would be easier said than done.

A/N: OK, I'm sure you all realised what was going on there with Xavier and Cerebro, but for those of you who didn't, I've taken events from X2 and combined them with this story. For legal purposes, I should probably point out here that I don't own X2 or any of its characters or ideas, and am merely borrowing part of its storyline. 

Please review!


	13. One Down

Chapter Eleven: One Down

"I have a plan," Jacqueline said suddenly.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Chris.

"Just be ready to run when I tell you."

"That's the plan?"

"That's your part. Now shut up, I have to concentrate."

Jacqueline raised her arms, and used her power to lift both Chameleon and Inferno off the ground, raising them up and away from Mindstorm. The smaller girl looked almost bored and disinterested as she casually lifted her hands to bring them back down towards her. Jacqueline tensed her arms and her face became lined with concentration as she increased her power, pushing the twins back up into the air. Both of the brothers looked far from pleased at being yo-yoed around like this, and Inferno yelled down at Mindstorm, "Hey, get us down from here!"

Mindstorm shot a venomous glance at Jacqueline, and flexed both her arms to bring her power to maximum force. The twins were pulled back down to the ground once again. I knew Jacqueline didn't have the power to compete with Mindstorm, and I wasn't sure what her intention was. Once the twins were back down on the ground, they'd come to attack us, and all she would have done was waste her power. Or was she trying to get Mindstorm to waste her power as well? Would that work? Would the fight swing in our favour if both Jacqueline and Mindstorm used up their power? Possibly. It was risky though; for all we knew, Mindstorm could have limitless telekinetic energy.

Suddenly, Jacqueline lowered her hands, and cut off her power completely. In that moment her plan became clear to me. The twins, already being pulled down by Mindstorm and without Jacqueline's countering upward force, began to rocket towards the ground. A look of annoyance crossed Mindstorm's face, and she quickly lessened her power before the twins could be dashed to pieces on the concrete. She wasn't quite fast enough, and was knocked to the ground as both Chameleon and Inferno landed heavily on top of her. Chris gave a shout of laughter, "Nice one!"

"Now run!" Jacqueline cried.

The four of us turned away from our three furious enemies, still picking themselves up painfully, and fled down the street.

"Where are we going?" Chloe asked.

"Somewhere with a lot of animals!" Chris said. "That's the only place where we can be safe!"

"Like where?"

"I dunno…a zoo, a pet shop, a dog-lover's house! Anywhere!"

"Can't we hide somewhere?" she suggested.

Jacqueline shook her head, "No chance. Mindstorm would sense us a mile off. Neil, what's nearby that might be useful?"

I pushed my focus into the distance, and scanned the surrounding streets.

"Hey, we're in luck. There is a zoo, about a mile ahead. Can we get there before they catch us?"

"Easily," said Chris confidently. "Inferno's injured; Mindstorm and Chameleon are both short, so none of them are going to be very fast runners."

"Neither am I," Chloe panted, already out of breath, struggling to keep pace with the rest of us. "I don't think I can keep running all that way."

"You can do it," I told her. "When we get there, can we take them by surprise? Do they even know about your gift with animals?"

"Yes. Inferno saw me controlling those dogs in the subway station, remember?"

"Oh, that's right. Well, if they have any sense, they won't come near us. It'll give us a little bit of time to get ourselves together and think what we're going to do next."

"They're coming after us," Jacqueline said. "I can sense it. They're not far behind."

"After we reach the zoo, what _are_ we going to do?" Chloe asked. "We can't stay there for ever. We'll have to go out and face them at some point. Can we stand up to them?"

Chris shrugged, "We're not more powerful than they are, if that's what you're asking. But we can still beat them. We just have to use a little bit of cunning, like Jacqueline did back there."

"It was a gamble but I thought it might work," said Jacqueline. "I guessed Mindstorm would assume that I was trying to prove I was more powerful than she was. She fell for it."

"Yeah. Let's hope we can trick her again in the future."

We managed to keep running until we reached the front gates of the zoo, where Chloe stopped, bent double and began breathing heavily, "I'm sorry…I'm just really tired…I'm not used to running so much…"

"Well, we're here now. We can take a rest," I said.

Jacqueline used her mind power to con our way inside without paying, and we entered the zoo. For the first time in what seemed like ages, I relaxed. We were safe here. With so many animals around, Chloe's gift made us practically invincible.

"Right," said Chris. "Neil, you keep an eye out. I'm going to go and see if I can find some food. I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too," said Chloe.

The three of them disappeared to find somewhere they could buy food, and I looked for a good place to watch out for our enemies. There was an empty wooden bench just outside one of the enclosures – which turned out to contain elephants – and I sat down to keep watch. Focusing my eyes beyond the gates, I could see down into the street which we had just come along. There was no sign of Mindstorm or the twins. Could they be sneaking round to another entrance? Could they have given up and gone home? I didn't know, and I decided the best option was just to keep watching the road ahead.

"You've got funny eyes. Are you a mutant?" came a voice from beside me, startling me.

I re-focused my eyes on what was around me, and turned to my right. A small blonde girl, maybe four or five years old, was sitting on the bench beside me, looking up at me, her eyes filled with innocent curiosity.

"Are you a mutant?" she repeated.

"Yes."

"My mommy said mutants are bad, and they kill people. Is that true?"

I thought about Xavier and his X-Men, and shook my head, "No, mutants don't kill people."

Then I thought about my father. And Chameleon. And Inferno and Mindstorm.

"Well, not all of them," I amended.

"Are some of them good?"

"Yes, some of us are good."

"Are you?"

"I'd like to think so."

A woman appeared by the girl's side, and took her by the hand, declaring, "Melody! What have I told you about talking to strangers? Come on, let's go."

"He's a mutant, Mommy!"

The woman looked at me in horror, and I returned her gaze through my gold-pupilled eyes. She knelt down to face her daughter and said, "Melody, listen to me very carefully. You must never talk to strangers. And you must never, _ever_ talk to mutants. They're bad, and they're dangerous. Have you got that?"

"Yes, Mommy."

"Come on, let's find Daddy."

Casting a last fearful glance in my direction, the woman hurried her child away, and I stared at the ground, suddenly sad. The actions of certain mutants, like my father and his four, had prejudiced the general public against us, and we were almost universally hated and reviled as a result. The majority of us, who were as innocent and law-abiding as anybody else, were unfairly labelled with a tag of being a psychotic killer or a genetic freak, who couldn't be trusted to use our powers responsibly. I sighed heavily. As much as I agreed with Xavier's goal to unite humans and mutants in friendship, it seemed impossible. For every bit of good that the Professor and his friends did, an act of wrong by another mutant would bring back the old fears and prejudices that everyone held within them.

They had to be stopped. Those mutants who would use their powers to cause the suffering of others, they had to be stopped. My resolve strengthened, I vowed to do everything I could to promote good will between humanity and my own kind. My father and his four – Chameleon, Inferno, Mindstorm, and the one we had still to encounter – had to be stopped.

"Hey," came a voice from my left.

It was Chloe. She handed me a sandwich in a plastic packet, and said, "It's a bit late, but here's lunch."

"We don't have any money. How'd we get these?"

"I don't know. Chris and Jacqueline got them."

I was hungry enough that I didn't care how we'd got the sandwiches. It occurred to me that using our gifts to get out of paying for things was exactly the kind of thing I had just decided I was staunchly opposed to, but we were in such a desperate situation that I felt the ends justified the means. That was the problem with morals: they were fine until they came back to haunt you. Opening the packet of sandwiches, I began eating the first one, and looked up to focus my eyes back on the road outside the zoo.

"Any sign of – of _them_?" asked Chloe nervously.

"Nothing yet. Maybe they're waiting for us to make the next move."

"I'm scared, Neil. I don't think we can stand up to them. I think if we meet them again, they'll kill us."

My eyes were focused elsewhere, so I reached out with my hand until I felt hers, and gave it a squeeze, "Don't worry. Like Chris said, we just have to be cleverer than they are."

"Do you think the Professor will help us?"

"Maybe. But from what Jacqueline said back in the subway station, it seems as if he's got his own problems right now."

"I guess so. Hey, I was wondering. When this is over – if we can beat your dad – are we going back to the Professor's mansion?"

I shrugged, "Dunno. I'd like to. Whether or not he'd have us back is another matter."

"Yeah. Neil?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you love me? Are we going to stay together?"

"I hope so. And yes, I do love you."

"I love you too, but…"

"But what?"

"I just can't think about us making any kind of future together, when we could get killed at any moment by your father and the others."

I thought back to when we'd been in the facility in the Highlands, when I'd first met and spoken to my father, without even realising he _was_ my father. What would I do if I met him again? Would I be able to face him, knowing what he'd done to me? How could a man _do_ that to his own child? I'd been born normal, should never have been a mutant, but my father had changed that, and now I found myself fighting against him, to make sure he could never do the same to anybody else. We were all victims in a way: myself, the twins and Mindstorm. They'd been ordinary, innocent children before my father's experimentation on them. They too would never have become what they were if it hadn't been for his actions. I was going to reply to Chloe, when I saw movement.

"I've got something," I said, sitting upright. "It's Chameleon."

"On his own?"

"Seems to be. He's approaching the zoo. Damn, he's just camouflaged himself."

"Can you still see him?"

"Just about. Go and get Jacqueline. Inferno and Mindstorm may be approaching from a different route. She'll be able to sense them if they are."

I heard her get up and run off in search of Jacqueline, and I kept my attention on the reptilian mutant. Invisible to everyone bar myself, he climbed over the fence into the zoo, and I saw him looking up, scanning the area with his eyes. Eyes that were just like mine. He deactivated his camouflage and I could see his eyes, staring right back into my own. We looked at each other for a few moments, then he began running along the path towards me.

Chloe, Jacqueline and Chris appeared at my side.

"I can't sense anyone else," Jacqueline said. "Though it's possible Mindstorm is blocking my telepathy somehow."

"She can do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe. She's more powerful than I am."

"So what do we do about slime-boy?" Chris asked. "Shall I fight him? Do you want to use your telekinesis? Should we get Chloe to control some animals? Decisions, eh?"

"We've got to try to keep it as low-key as possible," said Jacqueline. "We don't want to attract police attention to ourselves, so a fistfight or an open display of telekinesis is out of the question."

"But if Chloe manipulates an animal, we can make it look as if the animal escaped," I said. "There won't be any obvious signs of mutant involvement."

"Right," said Chris.

"I don't know," said Chloe. "What kind of animal? I don't want any of them to get hurt."

Chris grinned, "Well, we _are_ outside the elephant pen. You said it works best on mammals, right? There isn't much that can hurt an elephant."

"He's coming," I said. "He's close."

"All right," said Chris, jumping into action. "Jacqueline, you stay out of sight and get ready to open up the gate to the enclosure. Chloe, you get ready to control the elephants. Neil, you stay here and look conspicuous. I have a feeling it's you he's after. I'll stay out of sight and be ready to jump in, just in case things go horribly wrong."

"Hang on," said Jacqueline. "I can hear something."

"Huh?"

"Chameleon's having some kind of telepathic conversation. Mindstorm's yelling at him. Neil, can you hear it?"

I stretched out with my telepathic senses, and could vaguely hear a conversation going on inside Chameleon's head.

__

This is the last time I will tell you, Chameleon, came Mindstorm's voice, _get back here now!_

Shut up, Mindstorm, the reptilian thought, _I'm sick of doing things your way. I can handle this lot easily._

No, you can't! Rosiçky's child is too powerful!

He's a prototype, woman, a failed prototype of me! I can take him! Now shut up and get out of my head!

She had obviously given up, as there was nothing more.

"He's acting on his own," Jacqueline said. "He must have left the other two behind somewhere."

"Perfect," Chris enthused. "Let's finish him while they're split up."

"He's almost here," I told them. "Places, everyone."

I sat alone on the wooden bench as Chameleon approached, his eyes narrowed at me, his body tensed and ready for action.

"Aw, have your little friends abandoned you?" he mocked. "Looks like it's just you and me."

"Lucky me."

"Shut up. I've still got to make you pay for back at the subway station. Get up!"

I remained seated. 

"I said: get _up_!" he demanded.

From behind me came screams of terror, and I knew that our plan was in operation. Chameleon was distracted by the screams, perhaps hoping to witness somebody suffering, and he moved slightly away from me to see what was going on.

"There he is!" I heard Chloe's voice shouting. "Get him!"

Something grey and enormous appeared in the corner of my vision, and the elephant's trunk snaked out to grab Chameleon. The reptilian yelled in surprise, and struggled furiously to escape, but the pachyderm's grip was too strong.

"Get this off me!" he yelled.

I could see Chris, standing on the other side of the elephant from Chloe.

"Tell it to kill him!" he shouted.

"What? No!" Chloe said in shock. "I can't do that!"

"Chloe, do it! He'd kill you if he had the chance! We can't keep running forever! We have to finish them, and it starts with him!"

"No! I can't – I can't kill someone!"

"DO IT!!"

Stunned into action, Chloe shouted to the elephant, "Do it! Kill him!"

Then she screamed as she realised what she'd done. The elephant swung its trunk towards the wall, flattening Chameleon's skull against the bricks. It then dropped him to the ground, where he lay still, very clearly dead. Chloe stood with her mouth wide open in shock.

"Now get it back inside its pen! We have to get out of here!"

Without knowing what she was doing, Chloe told the excited elephant to go back inside its enclosure. Jacqueline must have closed the gate after it, as she came running round the corner, and stopped when she saw the dead form of Chameleon.

"You had to kill him, huh?"

"Yeah," said Chris. "Come on, we'd better go."

Screams rang in the air from all directions. People had probably witnessed what happened, and we hurried through the flowing crowds to the nearest exit. Slipping out unnoticed, we hurried along the street to a deserted corner, where we stopped.

"I can't sense Mindstorm or Inferno," said Jacqueline. "I think we're safe here."

"Chloe? Are you all right?" I asked.

"Of course I'm not all right!" she shrieked, turning to face Chris. "You made me use my power to get an animal to kill somebody!"

"I'd have done it myself, given the chance," he retorted. "Chloe, Chameleon was our enemy. He wasn't the kind of guy you could bargain with. He was a psychopath. We had to finish him."

"But I _killed_ him! I – I can't live with that!"

"You're going to have to," he said bluntly. "How else did you think we were going to stop them? They weren't going to rest until they'd killed _us_."

"I know, but I – oh, I don't know what to think. Maybe you're right. I can't think any more. My mind's gone blank."

"You're in shock," I said.

"I guess."

Jacqueline looked up, "I can sense Inferno. He's close."

"Alone?"

"I think so. He's gone crazy. He must have realised Chameleon's dead. He's just running around flaming anything he can see. We've got to stop him before he kills somebody."

"Where is he?"

"This way."

We hurried back along the street to the zoo gates, then ran along the outside of the fence, to where a crowd was still hurrying away from the zoo park. Then I could see Inferno. Standing on his own in the middle of a terrified, milling crowd, breathing fire in all directions, screaming incoherently, driven mad by the death of his twin.

"Keep an eye out for Mindstorm," said Jacqueline. "Chris, let's stop him."

Inferno looked up and saw their approach.

"_You_," he hissed. "You killed my brother! I'll kill you!"

He turned to breathe fire at three or four random people who were fleeing past him. Fortunately none of them was hurt. Jacqueline raised her hand, and lifted Inferno into the air, where he couldn't flame anybody else. He flailed wildly and cursed at her, struggling uselessly against her power.

"Jacqueline! I see Mindstorm!" I yelled.

The small telepath was across the street, and lifting her hand to pull Inferno's crazed form over towards her, setting him down on the floor. The two of them looked across the street at us, then Mindstorm swept her arm to the side angrily, using her power to dislodge the top floor of the building beside us.

"Look out!" I yelled, grabbing Chloe and pulling the two of us to a safe distance. Chris and Jacqueline escaped the falling rubble, and we turned to see Mindstorm, dragging Inferno behind her, hurrying out of sight.

"They're running!" Chris exclaimed. "They must reckon we're too much for two of them!"

"Do we go after them?" asked Chloe.

"Absolutely. If we can cut them off before they reach their base, we've got them, and Neil's dad will only have one left."

He made to go after them, but I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Hang on," I said. "Something's wrong. Somebody's trapped under the rubble. When that building fell, they must have been caught underneath."

"I can sense somebody too," said Jacqueline. "A human. A child. Over here somewhere."

We hurried over to where a woman was frantically searching through the fallen remains of the top floor of the building.

"Melody!" she shrieked, and I realised it was the mother of the little girl I'd spoken to in the zoo.

She saw us come towards her, and screamed, "Mutants! Get away from me!"

We ignored her, and Jacqueline pointed towards a section of the ground, "There. She's there."

Chris and I picked our way over the rubble until I could sense the girl's presence strongly, and we began lifting aside the rocks. It was impossible that the child could still be alive – wasn't it? Yet I could still sense her. Flinging aside pieces of debris, I could hear the girl crying.

"She's still alive!" I said.

We unearthed another layer of the rubble, and found the child. Curled in a foetal position, she was partially shielded by a large wooden door that had fallen over her, protecting her from the worst of the rubble.

"Is she hurt?" said Chris, as we lifted the door away.

"I don't think so. She seems OK."

The girl's mother pushed us aside and lifted her child into her arms, sobbing with relief and kissing her daughter's forehead. Then she looked at me with a strange expression, halfway between gratitude and repulsion, "You're mutants –but thank you."

She hurried away, and Chris wiped the sweat from his brow, "Well, I guess that's us done our bit for human-mutant relations."

"I thought you didn't care about humans," I told him. "I thought you said they could look after themselves."

"Did I?"

"You did. Yet here you were, risking your life to save that little girl. The building might have collapsed further on top of us."

"I know. It never occurred to me. It was the right thing to do."

"Then perhaps you see why Xavier and his people feel the way they do?" I said. "Even if it seems like a hopeless struggle, they do it because it's right."

"Yeah…I suppose it does make more sense now. But hell, let's talk about that later. We've got to get after Inferno and Mindstorm. And hey. Just between the two of us, I think Mindstorm's cute. Don't you?"

"Hadn't occurred to me. When a woman's trying to kill you, her appearance generally becomes irrelevant."

"Maybe to you," he grinned. "Come on, let's go."


	14. Earth, Fire and Water

Chapter Twelve: Earth, Fire and Water

As we followed the two fleeing mutants, we soon realised that they were heading west, towards the facility owned by my father; the genetics lab. It seemed as if Chris had been right, and that was indeed their base of operations. If we could intercept them and finish them – then we'd only have to worry about my father and the fourth of his mutants. It was at this point that I began to worry. Professor Xavier had described my father as a very powerful mutant, but just _how_ powerful was he? Was he beyond our capabilities? We had no way of knowing right now, which meant it was imperative that we stopped Mindstorm and Inferno before they got back. Eliminating the two of them would make defeating my father that much easier.

"She's going to know we're following her, you do realise that?" Jacqueline was saying, as we jogged along the street, going west, "Mindstorm will sense us and know exactly where we are."

"Nothing we can do about that," said Chris. "As long as we can get to them before they can get to safety, we've got them. Knowing we're coming isn't going to save them."

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Can't you read Mindstorm's mind and see what they're thinking?" Chloe suggested.

"Nah, of course not. She'd sense it."

"So what? She knows we're coming after her anyway," said Chris. "You might as well try it. If they're going to try and trap us in some way, we can listen in on their plan."

"Yes, but the second she detects me, she'll _stop_ talking about their plan."

"Read Inferno's mind, then."

"She'd still sense me. It would take her longer, though. OK, I'll give it a try. She'll sense me before too long, but I might be able to hear something useful. I'll read Inferno's mind and transmit their thoughts to all of you."

A few moments passed, then I could hear their voices.

__

Let me go back. I want to kill them.

Shut up, Inferno. We can't destroy them on our own.

So what are we doing, running away?

No, we're going to go back to base, find Antaeus, and wait for them there. They're coming after us, I can sense them.

I want to kill them. For what they did to my brother.

Chameleon was a fool. It was his own fault, running off like that.

Don't you ever speak about my twin like that, or I'll – !

Oh, do shut up. Damn it, that other telepath is reading your mind. Don't say or think anything.

There was nothing, and Jacqueline said, "She sensed me."

"Who's Antaeus?" asked Chloe.

"Must be the last of the four, the one we've not met," said Chris.

I frowned, "Wasn't Antaeus some guy from Greek mythology?"

"Yes," said Jacqueline. "A giant who was invincible until he was killed by Hercules. Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Gaia."

"Gaia?" Chloe repeated.

Chris blinked, "How do you know that?"

Jacqueline shrugged, "I did a project on Greek history at school."

"OK. Well, I hope _this_ Antaeus isn't some invincible giant."

We continued running down the road, drawing ever closer to the place where we would meet my father. In the distance a tall, glass-fronted building was visible, and I focused on it for a closer look.

"I can see the genetics lab," I said. "It's that big silver building sticking up above the rest. See it?"

"Yeah. Can you see inside?"

I looked through the wall of the building, into its interior, and scanned the first few floors, "Can't see anyone. It looks empty."

"It won't be. Keep looking."

I brought my gaze up to the top of the building. On the roof sat a small helicopter and a large communications dish. Looking through the walls once more, I examined the top floors.

"Ah, I can see somebody," I said to the others. "Zooming in a bit…it's my father."

"What's he doing?"

"Seems to be just working in a lab. Doesn't look as if he's expecting us."

"Good," said Chris, then he hesitated before saying. "Neil, you are aware, aren't you, that we're going to have to kill him too? I know he's your father, but…"

"I don't have a problem with that," I said. "He may be my genetic antecedent, but he's never acted as a true father should. I won't miss him."

"All right. Just so that's clear. Chloe, I know you're not entirely comfortable with this killing thing…"

"No, but I suppose you're right about it," said Chloe sadly. "They are our enemies. After all, the treatment, or whatever it was that gave them their mutations, warped their minds and made them evil. We shouldn't have the same compunction that we would have for hurting an ordinary person."

"Jacqueline, I assume you don't have a problem?"

"Half of me doesn't."

"Huh?"

Jacqueline sighed, "I suppose it's time I told you the truth. Neil already knows about my problem, but it's time I told you and Chloe as well. I'm going insane, Chris, I can feel it. When my parents disowned me, I didn't know how to cope with it, and I lost my mind for a while. My consciousness separated into two. We're both still in here."

"We?"

"Yes. My own mind has aged and learned as my life has progressed, but the other mind is still stuck as a seven year-old girl. She's been in my head since that day, and my mental health has been getting progressively worse. What Neil did, going in and helping me take back control of my body, it helped, but I'm still going crazy."

"But even a split personality doesn't give you two totally separate minds."

"I know. It must be because I'm a telepath, and my mind can separate from the body – or something. I don't know why it happened, but it happened. Anyway, I just want to get this whole thing out of the way and kill Rosiçky before I lose my mind completely."

"It can't be that bad." 

"It is."

"Can't the Professor help you?" asked Chloe.

"I don't know. Maybe."

I said, "Once we've finished off my father, we'll contact Xavier and see if he's willing to help, OK?"

Jacqueline closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly, "I suppose it's worth a try. I can hardly think straight at all any more. The only respite I get is when I'm outside of my body, reading somebody else's mind. It's only then that I'm not stuck in my own head with a traumatised seven year-old screaming at me."

"We'll do it," Chris promised. "We'll finish these four off, then we'll go back to Xavier's. I'll apologise to him on bended knee if I have to, if it will convince him to help you."

She smiled, "Thanks, Chris. Under that bitter exterior, you're a different person, you know that?"

"Hey, don't get all sentimental on me," he grinned. "You'll just embarrass me. Come on, we need to focus. How are we going to beat Mindstorm if she's more powerful than you both?"

"Should have brought that elephant with us," I said, and Chloe smiled.

"We just need to use a bit of cleverness," Jacqueline said. "Inferno's gone crazy at losing his brother, so we can easily manipulate him into a mistake."

"Where are they now, incidentally? Are we gaining on them?"

"Yes. They're not far from the labs, but we're nearly on them."

"I can see them," I said, looking into the distance. "Up ahead. Inferno's still limping. Mindstorm's actually having to use her telekinesis to move him faster."

"Good, that means she's using up her power," said Jacqueline.

Chris said, "Chloe, if you see any animals that might lend us a hand, give them a shout."

"I don't see any. There's a few pigeons flying around, but you know I can't really do it with birds yet."

"We're close, even I can see them," said Chris, pointing up the street. "OK, here's what we'll do. Jacqueline, hit them with your power. Even if it doesn't hurt Mindstorm, at least it'll keep her busy. Chloe, you look around for any animals you can find, or just stay out of trouble if there aren't any. Neil, you and I will take them. Use your berserk attack."

"Inferno has the same gift," I said.

"I'll worry about Inferno. You go for Mindstorm."

"Oh, thanks. Pick the easy target, why don't you?"

"Hey, can _you_ change into liquid to avoid him breathing fire at you?"

I shook my head, "No."

"And you have some telekinetic ability yourself, so that'll help against her. Here we go!"

Mindstorm must have realised she couldn't reach the lab in time, and had turned to face us. Jacqueline raised her hand, and sent a burst of psychic energy towards our enemies. Mindstorm raised her hand to block it, but it had given Chris and I the time we needed to move towards them. I lifted my arms to block the psychic blast I knew was coming, and was only slightly knocked off balance when Mindstorm fired it at me.

I thought of Chloe being hurt, of what my father had done to me, and anger flowed through my veins. Entering my berserk attack, I charged towards Mindstorm. She was preoccupied with blocking another attack from Jacqueline, and I swung a fury-enhanced punch towards her, smacking solidly into her face, knocking her off balance. She screamed, the first time I'd heard her speak without using telepathy. I leapt on top of her, forcing her to the ground, and punched her in the jaw once more. Mindstorm was shocked and weakened. I could sense it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris and Inferno, grappling together, matching each other blow for blow, move for move, one fighting in an insane frenzy of rage, the other calmly and fluidly using his knowledge of martial arts. They were the clashing balance of opposites, like fire and water.

__

Neil! Look out! 

I heard Jacqueline's telepathic warning a second too late, as a huge hand grabbed me from behind, and hurled me into the air. I found myself sailing up, over Chris and Inferno, and used my own telekinesis to slow my upward movements, then bring myself back down to earth. I looked over to see who had attacked.

A giant stood over Mindstorm – he had to be at least seven feet tall – and helped to her feet. Her petite form looked almost doll-like beside his massive frame. He wasn't just tall, he was heavily muscled and in all dimensions he was about one and a half times the size of an ordinary human. This had to be Antaeus. He clenched his fists and began lumbering towards me, surprisingly fast for one so large. I panicked. The balance of power had suddenly swung back in their direction. Chris was getting the better of Inferno, but there was no way I could stand up to the colossal Antaeus. How much power did Jacqueline have left to keep distracting Mindstorm?

I'd forgotten about Chloe. From the alleyway where I'd last seen her, came three Alsatian dogs, running towards Antaeus. Snapping at his legs, scratching him with their claws, quick and nimble enough to avoid the clumsy blows from his huge fists. I took advantage of his distraction to run up behind him and deliver a solid kick to his groinal area. It would have left any ordinary man writhing on the ground, but Antaeus was no ordinary man. He turned to swipe at me with one hand, and I dived to the floor to avoid him.

__

Nice try, but Antaeus doesn't feel pain, came Mindstorm's voice, _one of his gifts._

Thanks for the tip, I shot back sarcastically, getting to my feet.

The giant, ignoring the dogs, was striding towards me again. Even using my berserk attack, I knew I had no chance of defeating him hand to hand. I had to use a bit of cunning, a bit of cleverness. I looked around for some trap that I might be able to spring on Antaeus. Would he fall for something like that? His general appearance didn't suggest he'd be challenging for Nobel prizes any time soon, but appearances could be deceiving. And Mindstorm would probably warn him if I tried anything sneaky. So what to do? Leading him away from Mindstorm seemed like a good idea. I hurried up the street, away from the rest of them.

Mindstorm noticed me instantly, and began following, walking backwards, keeping her attention on Jacqueline. The two of them were still exchanging their psychic blasts, firing, dodging, blocking. With Mindstorm's back turned, I wondered about the possibility of attacking her from behind, but to do that I'd need to get past Antaeus. Easier said than done. The dogs were still biting and scratching at him, but he appeared not to notice.

"You die," he said to me, speaking in a slow monotone that implied the lack of intelligence I'd suspected. 

I needed a plan.

__

Jacqueline? How did Hercules defeat Antaeus?

Lifted him off the ground and crushed him. Antaeus drew his power from the earth so he was vulnerable while in the air. I wouldn't recommend getting close enough to this guy to try it.

The giant stretched out his arms, and opened his huge hands, running towards me. His intention was clear: to choke me to death. I continued backing away, looking around for anything I might use to my advantage. Mindstorm was still following the two of us, and Jacqueline was following her, the two female telepaths still locked in their duel. Squinting up the street momentarily, I saw Inferno lying motionless on the ground, and Chris hurrying to my aid.

__

Chris? Is Inferno dead? I asked.

__

I didn't have time to check. I don't think so. You need help?

Yes.

On my way.

Sprinting past the preoccupied Mindstorm, he leapt at Antaeus from behind, delivering a two-footed kick to the back of the giant's head. It might have maimed or even killed a normal man, but Antaeus merely turned his head to see what had happened. Chris scrambled to his feet and ducked one of the huge fists as it was swung at him.

"Come on, big guy," he taunted. "How good are you?"

Antaeus tried to punch him once more, but Chris dodged easily, and grinned, "Bit slow, aren't you?"

The colossus gave a grunt of annoyance, and threw another punch, missing again.

"Really, this is getting quite predictable," Chris said, faking a yawn. "Can't you do anything else?"

__

Look out! I heard Jacqueline yelling, but I couldn't tell why.

Then I could. I felt my body rising from the ground, and I looked over to see Mindstorm, her arms raised, lifting myself, Chris and Antaeus into the air. Hang on – why was she lifting Antaeus? What did she have in mind? I felt my ascent begin to slow, as Jacqueline tried to counter, but Mindstorm was too powerful, and we rose higher and higher into the air. Eventually we were level with the roof of the laboratory building, then we were above it. Our upward motion stopped, and she set us down on top of the building. 

"OK, that was strange," Chris said. "Why'd she do that?"

I knew why. On the roof, several stories above the ground, we were much more vulnerable. Chris could dodge and duck Antaeus' blows all day long if he was down on the ground, but up here…the giant could simply force him into a corner, and there would be no escape. Antaeus was clearly taking a few moments to fully understand what had just happened to him, and this gave Chris and I the chance to prepare ourselves. There was one door, leading down to the lower levels. If we could get to it, we could escape. Unfortunately, the same simple concept had occurred to Antaeus, and he moved over to block the door.

"Here's a plan," I said. "Chris, get him over to the edge. Piss him off, get his attention, lure him over to the side, away from Mindstorm. I'll use my telekinesis to throw him over the edge."

Chris nodded, and began yelling insults at Antaeus. The giant growled angrily and lumbered over towards him. I prepared to fling a psychic blast in Antaeus' direction, when I sensed something was wrong. Detecting Inferno's presence behind me a second before it was too late, I ducked to avoid the column of fire that spewed from his mouth, and kicked out at his injured leg. Where had he come from? Mindstorm must have lifted him on to the roof as well.

"Neil, telekinesis please!" I heard Chris yell.

He was being forced towards the edge of the building, Antaeus advancing slowly, leaving Chris less and less room to retreat into. I raised my hand to push Antaeus over the edge, but Inferno grabbed my arm and pulled it aside. I couldn't use my power. Elbowing Inferno in the face, I pushed him aside and raised my arm again.

It was too late. Chris was standing on the edge of the building, Antaeus directly between the two of us. If I fired a psychic blast, I'd knock Chris off too. There was nothing I could do. Inferno was momentarily stunned, and I watched in stunned dismay as Antaeus moved to knock Chris over the edge.

Chris leapt towards Antaeus. It was foolish to say the least, the last brave action of a doomed man. Or so I thought. Chris changed into liquid in mid-leap, flowing cleanly around Antaeus, and landing harmlessly in a puddle on the other side of the giant. Solidifying once more, he kicked the colossus in the knees. Antaeus lost his balance, and teetered on the edge. I raised my hand and _push_ed him off the side of the building. He gave a startled grunt, and fell out of sight. I winced at the sickening _crump_ as he hit the ground several stories below, then turned to face Inferno. He was on his feet, and running for the door that led to the stairs.

"He's going to warn my father!" I yelled.

"I'll take care of him!" Chris shouted. "You check on Jacqueline!"

Inferno was almost at the door that went downstairs. Chris sped towards the fire-breather, tackling him to the ground, and the two of them went rolling down the stairs to the floor below. I hurried to the edge of the building and looked down, zooming in for a better view. My eyes widened in horror at the scene unfolding below. Jacqueline lay on the ground, unconscious or dead. Mindstorm was on her feet, her arm raised, Chloe suspended in mid-air in front of her. Turning her hand this way and that, Mindstorm was causing various parts of Chloe's body to twist or stretch in ways that they were clearly not meant to, and my girlfriend was shrieking in agony. Mindstorm was torturing her.

Fury burned throughout my body like a volcanic eruption. I screamed and went into my berserk state. Jumping off the side of the building, I used my telekinesis to slow myself until I touched down safely on the ground. Accelerating towards Mindstorm, still mad with rage, I pulled back my fist to knock her pretty face into next week. She sensed me, and turned, raising her other hand. I was thrown backwards, and I felt my adrenaline rush dissipate. Pain registered, and I struggled to get to my feet. Mindstorm had returned to using her power to torture Chloe, and I knew at any moment she could get bored, and snap Chloe's neck. I forced myself to stagger towards her, but another psychic blast knocked me to the floor, and this time I didn't have the strength to get up. There was nothing I could do. Chloe was going to die.

Slowly, almost impossibly slowly, Jacqueline raised herself from the ground. Unseen by Mindstorm, she grabbed the smaller telepath from behind, putting her hands firmly on either side of Mindstorm's head. Chloe was released from the telekinesis, and Mindstorm raised her hand to try and throw Jacqueline away from her. She couldn't. Jacqueline held on as tightly as she could, and suddenly both of them began screaming; Jacqueline in pain, Mindstorm in fear.

"What's happening?" Chloe yelled.

Suddenly it became clear to me. 

"She's going dormant in her mind!" I shouted. "Remember what happened when she tried to use Cerebro? She's burrowing into the depths of her mind and she's dragging Mindstorm in with her!"

They continued screaming, Mindstorm losing control and shrieking with genuine terror. Then she slumped and her body fell forward to the ground, lifeless. Jacqueline swayed for a moment, then collapsed. Chloe and I ran over to her.

"Is she all right?" Chloe gasped.

"I don't know. She must still be in the depths of her mind. They must both be in there."

"But Jacqueline can regain control, right?"

"I don't know that either. She did it last time, with my help. But with Mindstorm in there – they'll both be fighting to take control of her body!"

"What are you going to do?"

Kneeling by Jacqueline's side, I put my hands on her forehead, establishing a telepathic link, "Whatever I can."


	15. Father and Son

A/N: in response to a couple of reviews:

Thanks to Franglais for correcting my French in chapter 10. Fixed now.

Thanks to Maria for noticing that I still had this set at G rating. Fixed too.

And thanks to everyone else who has reviewed; I love getting feedback. Please keep them coming :D

Chapter Thirteen: Father and Son

The moment my consciousness entered Jacqueline's mind, I had stepped into the middle of a raging battle. She and Mindstorm were locked in mental warfare together, both desperate to take control of the body. I couldn't blame them; being trapped inside someone else's head for the rest of their life was not an attractive prospect. I could also sense the presence of seven year-old Jackie, elsewhere in the mind, running, hiding, terrified at what was going on.

__

Jacqueline! I'm here! I telepathed to her.

__

Help me, her voice came back weakly, _she's too strong. She's going to take over._

Why did you do this? I thought you said that going dormant in your mind again was the last thing you wanted to do.

I had to. There was no other way. She was going to kill Chloe. If I can keep her in here for long enough, the body will shut down, and she'll be finished.

But you'll die too!

I don't mind. I don't really want to live on in this body anyway. Do you have any idea how much I suffer?

Yes. I've been in your mind and experienced your feelings before, remember? Don't give up yet. Take your body back and the Professor will help you sort out your mind problems.

Can he?

You've got to hope so. Let me help you.

All right then, help me. Help me defeat Mindstorm.

Where is she?

Come closer. You'll be able to sense her.

I moved my consciousness through the ethereal towards Jacqueline, until I began to sense another presence. Mindstorm. She was there, lurking, angry and confused at what was happening, and she was determined to destroy Jacqueline and take over this body. Clearly uncomfortable in this strange environment, she hesitated before channelling a psychic blast in Jacqueline's direction. Jacqueline weakly tried to block it, and I used my own power to help her deflect the blast away. Mindstorm sensed me, and her fear grew. 

__

What have you done to me? she screamed, _I want my body back!_

It's too late, Mindstorm, I said,_ the telepathic link between this body and yours has been broken. You'll never get it back._

No! You're lying! Please, tell me you're lying! Please tell me I can get back!

Her fear had increased tenfold and she was beginning to sound hysterical. She was too used to being in complete control of her life, as well as the lives of those around her, and being thrown into this situation was too much for her to handle. Mindstorm broke down into tears and terrified wails. I didn't feel the slightest hint of sympathy for her, not after what she had done to Chloe.

__

Now's your chance, I said to Jacqueline, _she's lost it. Go up and take control of the body._

No, Mindstorm sobbed, forcing herself to focus and try to stop Jacqueline.

The two of them moved away from me, up towards the synaptic link that would give them control of Jacqueline's body. It was a race now. Neither of them was any longer interested in stopping the other, only in making sure that they got there first. I began to move my own consciousness, following after them as quickly as I could. Could I use my power to throw a psychic blast to impede Mindstorm? I wasn't confident of using telepathic attacks in these surroundings, and it might even do damage to the fabric of Jacqueline's mind. I decided not to risk it.

It seemed that Jacqueline was even weaker than I had anticipated. The fight must have taken a lot out of her, and Mindstorm began to pull ahead, getting ever closer to the link. Unless I did something soon, I knew she'd get there first. I tried to increase my speed and move to block her, but I was too far away. Forgetting my earlier decision, I launched a psychic blast towards her, but due to my lack of telepathic experience I was way off target. I could do nothing to stop Mindstorm now. She was going to take control of the body.

Just as she was about to touch the synaptic link, another consciousness swept in front of her, blocking her path. It was Jackie, the seven year-old child mind. Clearly unaware of exactly what was going on, she had obviously identified Mindstorm as an enemy, and gone to stop her. She wouldn't stop her for long, but with luck it would be long enough. As Mindstorm grappled furiously to get past the child's psyche, the exhausted seventeen year-old Jacqueline moved past her and into the synaptic link. Mindstorm screamed.

__

Neil! Go! Jacqueline said urgently.

__

No, I've got to stay and help you!

Don't be stupid! Get back into your own mind! Mindstorm can't take over my body any more , but she can still get into yours! Go, before she realises! Get to the telepathic link before she can!

The weight of the possibility hit me like an anvil. I'd never even considered the fact that I might be putting my own body at risk by entering this arena. But of course, it made perfect sense. If I could flow back along the telepathic link into my own mind, Mindstorm could do the same! I began hurrying back towards the telepathic link, and could sense Mindstorm close behind me. She knew where I was going, she knew it was her only hope of avoiding never-ending imprisonment inside Jacqueline's head. She fired a psychic blast, but I managed to dodge, and continued on my way. The telepathic link back to my body was close now, and I was still ahead of her. She gave a scream, and I could sense her increasing her power, putting everything she had into one last burst.

It wasn't enough. She'd used up all of her power, and I was first into the link. The last sound I heard, before I moved back along the link to my own mind, was Mindstorm's cry: a long, high-pitched mixture of anger, frustration, terror, sadness and defeat. She was trapped now, for the rest of Jacqueline's life.

Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was Jacqueline's face. She opened her eyes and I removed my hands from her forehead.

"I'm back…" she whispered.

"Me too," I said. "I beat her to the link."

She reached up and clutched my hand, speaking in a voice that was barely audible, "Neil…what you did for me…you could have lost your own body, but you still came in to help me…"

"Actually, I didn't realise my own body was at risk."

"Oh. Well…it was still a brave and selfless thing to do."

"So was dragging her into your mind in the first place. Is she still in there?"

Jacqueline nodded, "Yes. She's screaming and screaming, over and over again, endlessly screaming."

"She knows she's stuck in there. You all right?"

"Yeah. Just exhausted. And scared."

"Of what?"

"Of going insane. I was bad enough when it was just me and Jackie in here, but having Mindstorm as well, it's going to tip me over the edge. I don't think I can handle it."

"You can do it. Let's go and find Chris, and kill my father. Then we'll go back to Xavier's."

I stood up, and reached for Jacqueline's hand to help her to her feet. She struggled into a sitting position and put her hands on her head, "Shut up, Mindstorm, shut up. Just _shut up_!"

"Can she hear you?"

"Possibly. She is telepathic, remember. Neil, I can't go with you. I can barely concentrate on talking to you. Please, leave me alone for a while and I'll try to sort myself out. Once you've dealt with your father, come back and find me. If I'm still sane, take me to the Professor. Please. I'm begging you. I can't – I can't take this!"

"OK. Hang together. We'll be back. Chloe, let's go."

The two of us took one last look at Jacqueline, still clutching her head, rocking back and forth slightly, struggling to get her mind under control, then we turned and headed for the laboratory building.

"Where's Chris?" Chloe asked.

"I dunno. I last saw him on the roof, fighting Inferno."

I scanned the building with my X-ray vision, "Ah! I think I see them!"

"Where?"

"Ground floor. A big storage room of some kind. Come on!" 

We entered the building by the front door. I scanned the route that led to the storage room. There was nobody else in sight; the entire building appeared to be deserted apart from us and our two remaining enemies. We hurried along the corridors towards the storage bay. When we got there, there was no sign of anybody. I scanned the room with my eyes. On one side a number of huge metal crates were stacked together, held in place by strong chains. In the centre of the room, smaller boxes and cartons were piled around, in no apparent order. The right-hand side of the room was mostly empty, apart from a few miscellaneous boxes and other articles. Then I spotted them.

"There!" I exclaimed, pointing up and to the left.

Chloe looked. On top of a platform that hung over the large metal crates, Chris was locked in mortal combat with Inferno. I zoomed in. Chris appeared to be getting the better of the fight. Inferno was still fighting in fury, lashing out with his fists and breathing fire, but Chris was successfully dodging all of his attacks while landing blows of his own.

"He's winning, isn't he?" said Chloe.

"I think so. I wonder where my father is."

As we watched, Inferno spewed a jet of flame towards Chris, which he only managed to avoid by changing into liquid at the last minute. Solidifying almost instantly, he knocked the fire-breather's legs out from under him, and pushed him off the side of the walkway. The storage room was huge, and they were at least three floors off the ground. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Inferno fell, his arms flailing desperately, towards his doom. His head snapped upwards, and a fierce jet of flame came forth, melting through one of the stout chains that held the metal crates in place. Suddenly the chain snapped, and the loose end swung down towards Inferno, who grabbed it with one hand. The chain slowed his momentum, and he let go, dropping safely to the ground. He gave a cry of triumph. He'd survived.

But not for long. The metal crate that had been secured by the now-broken chain, had fallen free of its restraints and began its descent towards the ground. It landed squarely on top of Inferno, crushing him to death. Chris collapsed to the floor of the walkway, spent and exhausted. I looked around for a set of stairs that led up to the platform, and Chloe and I hurried over to him.

"You OK?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt," he said. "Just tired. He took a lot out of me that time."

"Just rest for a moment," Chloe said, supporting him into a sitting position.

Chris looked up at us, "What happened to Jacqueline? Did she kill Mindstorm?"

"Uh – sort of."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"She isn't dead," I said. "It's a bit complicated. Do you remember what happened to Jacqueline after she tried to use Cerebro?"

"Yeah, she got stuck in her own mind and couldn't control her body."

"Right. She did the same thing this time, only deliberately. And she pulled Mindstorm in with her. I helped her regain control of her body, so she's all right."

"What about Mindstorm?"

"She's still in there. She's trapped."

"How's Jacqueline? She holding together?"

"I hope so. She asked us to leave her for a while, to let her get used to it and get her mind sorted out."

Chris sighed with relief, "So they're all gone? Mindstorm, Inferno, Chameleon, Antaeus?"

"Yes. My father's the only one left."

"Is he still here?"

I turned to face the area of the building where I'd last seen Davor Rosiçky, and looked through the walls to see if he was still there.

"He is," I said. "He's still working away on some experiment. He doesn't seem to realise any of what's happened."

"You think we can take him surprise?"

"It's worth a try. Are you OK to join us?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Just give me a minute or two to get my breath back."

He struggled to his feet, and I scanned the building to find a route that would take us to my father. We headed for the elevator on the ground floor, riding up to the sixth, where his laboratory was to be found. Leaving the lift, we walked down the corridor until I held out my hand to stop the others.

"He's in the room on the right," I whispered. "I'll go first. Back me up if necessary."

They nodded, and I walked into the room. My father had his back to me, and didn't seem to be aware of my presence.

"Hello, Father."

I could sense surprise in him, but he kept it from registering on his face as he turned to face me.

"Ah, you," he said coldly. "How did you get here? Where are the four?"

"If you're referring to Mindstorm and her boys, they're dead. We took them out."

He frowned, "Truly?"

"Yes."

"Hmm! Then perhaps you are not such a failure as I thought, no?"

"No. But then I never was a failure, was I?"

"No, you weren't."

"I was a success. Your experiment worked just as planned. In fact, it worked _too_ well. You realised you'd made me too powerful. You knew it would be years before you could perfect the process to work on yourself, and you didn't want a potential rival for power, even if it meant killing your own son."

"Correct. How did you find all of that out?"

"Partly guesswork. Partly through reading your mind."

"Ah, yes. Your telepathy. Not as potent as the gift I gave to Mindstorm, but still…"

"I share a gift with each of them, don't I? Chameleon's eyes, Inferno's berserk attack, Mindstorm's telepathy, and Antaeus' – actually, I don't know what I have of Antaeus'."

"I'm sure you'll find out in time."

"You mean you aren't going to try and kill me?"

"That depends. You are correct that I made you too powerful. For the second phase of the experiment, I decided to work with a larger number of subjects, and spread their gifts around so that no one of them would be a threat to me."

"Yes, I see," I said. "And now I've come to finish you as well. What you did to me – I'll never forgive you. I'm going to kill you."

"Are you? What if I offered you the chance to join me?"

I snorted, "I'd tell you to shove it up your – "

"Are you so sure?"

"Listen, Father – actually, I don't see why I'm calling you that, since you've never been a father to me. Listen, _Davor_, you've changed my life in a way that was never meant to be. You've ruined the lives of your other four subjects. Nothing, but nothing will make me forgive you."

He shrugged, "Well, in that case, I bid you farewell."

"Huh? Aren't you going to try and kill me? Finish what you couldn't do last time?"

Davor glanced at his watch, and said, "Yes, I am going to kill you. In about twenty minutes' time, you will be dead."

"How so?"

"Hidden in this building, I have set explosives of sufficient power to vaporise this facility and everything in a ten-block radius. You have twenty minutes to live."

"Then you're going to die too, surely."

"No, I'm going to head for my helicopter on the roof, and make my escape."

"You're going to destroy this whole place? Why?"

"Because," he said impatiently. "I would rather that certain people believe I were dead."

"Like who?"

"My old research partner, for one."

"You mean Charles Xavier."

"Yes. He has the capacity to make things very uncomfortable for me. He's done it before, and I can only escape him by faking my own death. Speaking of which, it is time for me to leave."

I stood in his way, "Not so fast, Davor. You still have to get past me."

"You can try to stop me if you wish. You'll die in the explosion. As will every person within ten blocks of this building. Wouldn't you rather spend your remaining – seventeen minutes – trying to find and disarm the explosives?" 

I cursed silently. He could have been lying about the explosion – but I couldn't take the risk. I tried reading his mind, and he seemed to be telling the truth.

__

Chris? Chloe? I sent, _he's hidden a bomb somewhere in the building. Try and find it._

Hey, you're the one with the X-ray eyes! Chris retorted.

__

I'll be with you in a minute. Start searching.

"Goodbye, son," said Davor, heading for the door.

I moved to block him, but he pushed me aside, sending me flying into the wall.

"You will find my strength almost matches that of Antaeus," he said. "You won't stop me. You can still come with me. It's the only way you'll survive."

"Two words, _Dad_," I snapped. "The first has four letters and begins with F."

"Hah! Forget it, then."

He strode to the door, and I staggered painfully after him. Chris and Chloe were gone, presumably searching the building for the explosives. Davor was hurrying down the corridor, towards the stairs that led to the roof and the helicopter pad. I went after him as fast as I could. Activating my X-ray vision, I quickly scanned the building, but couldn't see anything that looked like a bomb. Davor was climbing the stairs up on to the roof, and I followed him. Stumbling on the stairs, I dragged my painful form up the last few steps, to watch him starting the helicopter's rotor blades, and quickly performing some checks on the engine. He jumped out of the cockpit, his feet splashing in a small puddle, and called over to me, "It's not too late to change your mind! Come with me!"

I raised the middle finger. He shook his head and prepared to climb back into the chopper. He couldn't. Something was holding on to his foot. My eyes widened as I saw the puddle, coalescing into Chris, gripping Davor's foot, dragging him back.

"All yours, Neil!" Chris exclaimed.

Davor kicked at Chris, and knocked him to the ground. I raised my hand, and lifted my father into the air with my telekinesis. He raised his arms to use his own mind powers, but he wasn't fast enough. The spinning rotor blades of the helicopter tore him to shreds, and I lowered my hand, running over to check on Chris. He was in pain, struggling heavily as he got to his feet.

"You OK?" I asked.

"Don't worry about me!" he yelled. "Find that damn bomb!"

I stared down at the floor, looked through it, and scanned the building once more to see if I could see it. I could see Chloe, running about on the third floor, frantically searching every nook and cranny she could find, then I looked down on to the second floor.

There. That had to be it. Several barrels standing in a circle, with a timer and detonator strapped to the side of one of them. I didn't know what was in the barrels, and I didn't really care. Whatever it was, it was going to kill a lot of people if we couldn't disarm it in the next few minutes.

__

Chloe, second floor. Almost directly beneath you.

On my way!

She hurried down the stairs and I saw her approaching the barrels.

__

What do I do? she asked.

__

Is there an off-switch?

Not that I can see!

Can you unplug the detonator?

Um…how do I do that?

The red wire, said Chris, _it's always the red wire._

They're all black.

I zoomed in with my eyes, under the plastic cover of the detonator, and tried to make some sense of the circuit within. It didn't mean a thing to me. My knowledge of electronics was sketchy at best. I didn't know how much time we had left. Two minutes at most.

__

The wire nearest the top. That's a random guess, but I think it might be right, I told her.

__

Here goes.

She unplugged the wire from the detonator. Nothing happened. The timers were still going. 

__

Try the second from the bottom.

Yanking out the wire, she exclaimed, "The timers have stopped! It worked!"

I sagged to the ground with relief. It was over. The nightmare that had begun on an ordinary day at school, had finally come to an end. We were safe. I could sense Chloe hurrying up to meet us, and I slumped on to the roof next to Chris.

"Damn, I hurt," he grimaced. "Your dad packs a hefty kick."

"At least he's gone now."

He didn't reply, and we sat in silence, contemplating our victory. We'd come through relatively unscathed – somewhat amazingly – and could now look forward to whatever life held in store for each of us. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew one thing: I wanted Chloe to be beside me.

"Where's Jacqueline?" Chris asked.

When we went down to find her, Jacqueline was nowhere to be seen. We searched the area thoroughly for a good two hours, and found nothing. I couldn't sense her with my mind, or see her with my eyes. She'd completely disappeared. She must have gone off on her own. We wondered if we'd ever see her again, and what would happen to her. One thing was for sure, our lives had changed forever. We'd fought for our survival, for each other, for my past. It was settled now. My past was behind me and I could concentrate on my future. For the first time in four years, I felt hope. Hope for a fruitful life, a better world, a world where humans and mutants weren't set apart by their differences. An ideal world, perhaps, as might be viewed through a child's eyes.

The End

A/N: actually, I'm not quite done yet. I've still to write the epilogue. But please review! Comments on the characters (Neil's four or Davor's four) would especially be appreciated. Thanks for reading.


	16. Epilogue

A/N: this chapter is written in 3rd person.

Epilogue: 

JUNE 2003

****

EDINBURGH

A solitary figure stood by a small gravestone near the edge of a cemetery. Neil Rosiçky knelt down to place a small bunch of flowers by the grave, then stood once more and searched for the right words.

"I never knew you, Mother," he began. "But you don't have to worry. I'm safe now. Safe from him. He can't hurt anybody any more."

Neil felt a small tear rolling down his cheek, then he turned and walked to the graveyard entrance. There he found Chloe, standing waiting for him.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "It was where my granddad said it would be."

"Are you still sad? I can leave you alone for a while, if you like."

"No, it's OK. I'm over it. It's in the past. I'm not letting my past dictate my destiny any more."

Chloe slipped her hand into his, and said, "So what are we going to do now? We've been cleared of those murders, so we can go back to our old lives again."

"I can't do that. I can't live in a world where we're hated for what we are."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I want to educate the world. I want to work to bring humans closer to us."

"You mean you want to go back to the Professor?"

He nodded, "Chris is already on his way there. That's where I want to go. What about you?"

"You're not going anywhere without me," she said. "I can't imagine my life without you. Besides, I'd like to go back and meet all my friends again. We can be happy there, if they'll have us back."

"We can head out tomorrow. There's a morning flight."

They both smiled and put their arms around each other. They drew together. They kissed.

****

WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK

Chris Garcia took a deep breath and knocked twice on the richly panelled wooden door in front of him. From inside the room he heard a voice call, "Come in."

Pushing open the door, Chris walked uncertainly into Professor Xavier's office.

"Chris! I wondered when I would be seeing you again! What can I do for you?"

Standing uncomfortably in front of the Professor's desk, Chris swallowed and said, "First of all, Professor, I'd like to apologise for my actions when I was last here. I betrayed your trust and endangered my friend's life. It was my idea to use your machine; the others only did what I asked them to. The blame is mine."

"Chris, don't worry about it," said Xavier. "I accept your apology. I understand why you felt the way you did about us. It's in your nature to be suspicious, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's important for people, especially people in our situation, to know exactly who is on their side and who is trying to deceive them."

"Thank you, sir, but I was still out of order. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I'd like to ask to come back to the school. I learned something important while I was away. I realised why it is that you and your people care about humans the way you do. I'd like to have the chance to learn more."

"You'll have that chance," the Professor assured him. "I know I can trust you this time, Chris. I can sense it in your mind. You're welcome back at any time."

Chris smiled. It wasn't the lazy, sarcastic grin that he usually wore, it was something different, something he scarcely knew, an expression of joy and hope. Hope, because he knew he had a future ahead of him, as an X-Man.

"Um – there is one other thing, Professor."

"What's that?"

"My friend Jacqueline. We lost her after our fight with Neil's father. She was having severe mental problems at the time. There's three separate minds trapped inside her head – one of whom is a psychopath – and the last we saw of her, she wasn't coping well at all. Can you use Cerebro to find her? I desperately want to know if she's all right, sir."

"Ah," said Xavier slowly. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you…"

****

MARSEILLES

Henri Cartier looked up irritably from his newspaper when he heard the doorbell ring. Folding the paper, he stood up and walked to the door and opened it. On the doorstep stood a girl in her late teens. 

"_Oui, qu'est-ce que vous-voulez?_" he snapped impatiently.

"Don't you recognise me?" the girl asked in English.

Cartier was fluent in both languages, and replied in English, "No, I don't. Should I?"

The girl narrowed her eyes and stared at him with something that looked very much like hatred, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you don't recognise me. After all, it's been ten years, hasn't it, _Father_?"

"I am not your father!" he shouted.

She yelled angrily, "You _are_! I'm the daughter you abandoned ten years ago when you found out I was a mutant! You disowned me and left me in foster care!"

"I have no daughter! Get out of my house!"

Cartier's wife, hearing the raised voices, appeared from the back room.

"Hello, Mother," said Jacqueline.

"It's you, is it?" Yvonne Cartier said coldly. "I thought we asked the social workers not to give you our new address. Why are you here? I suppose you want money, is that it? Well, you can think again. You won't get a centime from us, or anything else for that matter."

"I'm your daughter!"

"No mutant is going to be a daughter of mine. As far as I'm concerned, our child died ten years ago."

Jacqueline felt a tear on her cheek, and said in a voice that shook with both anger and sadness, "Don't you feel anything for me? Not even the slightest bit of love?"

"No," her mother snapped. "Now get out of our house before we call the gendarmes."

"Father…" Jacqueline sobbed.

"I am not your father! I don't know you! I have no daughter! Be gone!"

Something snapped inside her mind, and the tears stopped. Her sorrow was now accompanied by a hard, cold ball of hate. Facing her parents with narrowed eyes, raising her arms, Jacqueline hissed, "I will repay you for what you have done to me."

Cartier moved as if to slam the door in her face, but it was ripped from its hinges and thrown aside. He took an instinctive step backwards, and Jacqueline advanced on him.

"For ten long years," she said. "I've had to live with the consequences of what you did to me. I should have led an ordinary, happy life, but you took that away from me, because you couldn't accept what I was. You destroyed my life, and now I'm going to destroy yours."

With a flick of her hand, she used her power to throw Cartier across the length of the room, where he crashed into the wall.

"Henri!" the woman cried, running over to her husband.

She never got there. Jacqueline jerked her other hand, and her mother was flung to the other side of the room, smashing into the kitchen door. Battered, bruised, and bleeding, both adults looked up at her in shock and fear, terrified of the thing their daughter had become, the thing they had inadvertently made her into. She swept both of her arms to the side, and her parents were thrown into the back wall. At least one of them was dead now; she could no longer sense their mind. With a final dismissive wave of her hand, she hurled them over the length of the room again. This time she could sense nothing. Both of them were dead. The child mind in her head was finally silenced.

Jacqueline turned and left the house, her mind in turmoil, part of her shocked and aghast at what she'd done, while another part gloated and enjoyed the murder of her parents. Jacqueline had gone crazy, unable to cope with the presence of Mindstorm inside her head. The other female telepath's consciousness was still there, taunting, goading, and guiding, driving her further and further away from the kind-hearted, caring girl she had once been.

The flick of a cigarette lighter distracted her attention and Jacqueline looked up.

"What happened?" Pyro asked.

"They got what they deserved."

He smirked, "Good. Come on, they're waiting."

Jacqueline fell into step beside him, and the two them walked down the road to where Magneto and Mystique were standing waiting for their two newest recruits. A brief smile crossed Jacqueline's face as her eyes met those of Magneto. There was a war coming, a war between humans and mutants, and Jacqueline Cartier was going to fight it, in any way she could.

A/N: OK, that's all I want to say. Please review!


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